Pavel Kalina, a diplomat with the Czech Republic embassy in Tehran (Iran) was a unique participant at the Mallakhamb World Championship held over the weekend at Shivaji Park. Kalina carries with him an 85kg folding wooden pole mallakhamb, measuring three metres in height wherever he goes.

"It's a five-piece folding pole. Being a diplomat, I do not have a problem and carry it in diplomatic cargo. Wherever I go, I put it on the floor in an open space or in my room and do my training," said Kalina, a trade commissioner and first secretary of the Czech Embassy in Tehran.