Mary Kom hopes to inspire others after expanding her regional boxing academy
Five-time World Champion MC Mary Kom continued to build on her dream of helping the kids in her home-state after the expansion of her regional boxing academy in Manipur's Imphal West district. Mary is awaiting the long-pending inauguration to be conducted out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
2012 Olympic Bronze medallist Mary Kom set out to establish her own boxing academy in her home-state of Manipur. She wants the young kids in her state to get the help that she never received growing up in a bid to improve their daily standard of living.
Situated at the bottom of Langol hills in Manipur's Imphal West district, Mary Kom's Boxing Academy is distributed across 3.3 acres. The state-of-the-art academy is approximately 10 km from the state capital Imphal. The Mark Kom boxing academy occupied a total of 45 young boxers, which included 20 girls, at the three-story training facility. The academy boasts a fully-equipped gymnasium and a boxing ring with a 600-seater gallery among other facilities.
"Mary wanted to give back to the sport which has made her famous and this was her dream come true," the iconic boxer's husband Onler Karong according to sources from PTI.
Mary Kom who became the Asian and World Champion and is also the country's only woman boxer with an Olympic medal - a bronze won in London 2012 Games. 35-year-old Mary Kom was
"We want more academies to come up in Manipur and other parts of the country. With modern equipment and facilities, I believe this is the first of its kind in India. This is the first full-fledged boxing academy with all the modern facilities for the training of boxers," Karong, who is also the Managing director of the academy said.
Mary and her husband have been waiting for PM Narendra Modi to formally inaugurate the facility, a request for which she has written to the PM in the past.
"It was completed nearly two years back. We want the PM to formally inaugurate it and so we are waiting," Onler said. The academy is in tandem with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Extension Centre.
"The Sports Secretary (Rahul Bhatnagar) has come over here and has seen the facility. We have met the Minister of State at the PMO thrice and he has assured us that the PM will inaugurate it. We are hoping it will happen in a few months or anytime during the year," said Onler.