MBA to spread wings in rural areas

MUMBAI: Boxing is all set to spread its wings in rural Maharashtra and also among the underprivileged class in Mumbai, according to the state boxing association secretary-general Jay Kowli.

Kowli said to encourage the sport, whose popularity is on the rise, at the grass root level the Maharashtra Boxing Association (MBA) has decided to open ten well-equipped boxing centres in municipal schools in Mumbai.

"They will be opened in February in association with the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation. They will be run by us and the coaches will be supplied by us," said the secretary-general of the MBA.

He said that the MBA has taken boxing to Naxalite infested districts like Gadchiroli and Chandrapur in Maharashtra, places which even government authorities fear to visit.

"We want to take boxing to the masses," he said.