Following the 10-day training camp organized by the Judo Federation of India (JFI) at Rural Development Trust’s (RDT) Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA), JFI’s second training centre in India was inaugurated in the ASA on Saturday, 30th May, 2015.
The inauguration of this centre brought to the region the JFI President, Mr. Mukesh Kumar along with RDT’s Programme Director, Mr. Moncho Ferrer, President of Andhra Pradesh Judo Association, Mr. Venkat Namishetty, as well as Secretary of the Telangana Judo Association, B. Kailash Yadav.
Speaking to the coach, Mr. Kei Teshigawara, who led the 10-day training camp prior to the launch of the JFI centre, he highlighted that the talent in the judokas he worked with is abundant, yet currently untapped by the Federation. He pointed to the fact that the ASA has been graced with a fantastic opportunity to bring Judo to the helm, as the new JFI training centre is much bigger and better equipped than the ones he has seen around the country.
Praising the judokas, the coach says, “I hope they’ll continue to train and utilize the facility that has been set up for them; I hope to meet some of these talented judokas at the 2020 Olympics in Japan.”
The JFI president, Mr. Mukesh Kumar, however shows great concern over the sparse number of Judokas in the country, despite the impressive show during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 by Indian Judokas. This is precisely the reason behind the Federation focusing on opening more such JFI training centres around the country.
He shares that there are only about 10,000 judokas all over India and his aim for the Federation is to reach at least 50,000 judokas in the coming years with the help of these JFI training centres.
This training centre will train 20 local athletes from Anantapur on a full-time, residential basis whereas 5 additional athletes will be selected on the basis of merit from other districts in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from the residential athletes, several younger local judo enthusiasts will be allowed to train at the centre, though not on a full-time basis.
The selected residential athletes will train full-time at the academy and will be provided with their own Judogi (Judo Uniform) along with free accommodation and nutritional support. In addition to this, the JFI will allow ASA’s training centre’s athletes direct entrance into all JFI tournaments as representatives of the JFI training centre.
A humble Mr. Moncho Ferrer gives all credit to the Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Judo Association, Mr. K N Babu, and his team for the successful inauguration of this JFI training centre, saying ‘’I was initially hesitant to provide such support to promote Judo, asking the state association to initially put in place a strong development program. These programs have been very successful, as all their hard work that has paid off, and the result of it can be seen today, with the support that RDT has extended to JFI.’’
The ASA is also trying to attract International coaches to lead this JFI training centre, and with the assistance of the JFI, they hope to have more exchanges between International Judo Athletes and coaches to encourage athletes and keep their enthusiasm running high. Coach Kei has set the standards very high during the 10 day training camp preceding the inauguration of the centre, which the Judokas will strive to keep up.
