13 Haryana kickboxers make Indian team

FARIDABAD: Thirteen athletes from Haryana have been selected in the Indian team for the Asian Kickboxing Championship to held next month in Pune.

The tournament will be held in Pune between August 1 and August 9. The winners will qualify for three major international events in 2017 -- the 5th Asian Indoor and Marshal Art Games, the World Combat Games and the World Games.

Santosh Kumar Agarwal, General Secretary of the Haryana Kickboxing Association, said a special training camp has been organised in Faridabad to bring the selected athletes up to international standards.

"In view of the growing awareness about the yoga, the players would also be trained in yoga by the renowned yoga trainer Sanjeev Pathak," he said.

This is also the first time that athletes from different districts have been selected for the national team. Six athletes from Jhajjar, four from Faridabad, one from Bhiwani and two from Kurukshetra will take part in the training camp.

Senior officials from the Olympic Association Haryana and Haryana Kickboxing Association extended their best wishes to the selected athletes.