New Delhi, Mar 9 (IANS): The Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) on Thursday announced a partnership with the Manipur Judo Association (MJA).

The goal is to create a structured athlete development pathway for the sport of judo in the state and help Indian Judokas achieve success at the global level.

In Manipur, the MJA administers Judo programmes and is in charge of running an academy that trains judokas. It provides assistance in areas such as technical training and tournaments. This partnership will bring together coaches with decades of experience to provide Indian athletes with the necessary support and access to the right training and infrastructure.

Speaking about the association, Soibam Indrakumar General Secretary MJA, said, "Judo is a sport seeing a lot of talent growing from Manipur. We intend to promote it as a rising and crucial Olympian sport, right from grassroots to elite training. And for this way forward, we are very pleased to partner with IIS which epitomises professional and holistic athlete development. Athletes like Linthoi Chanambam, who recently made a name for herself, are an example of the efforts and results that can be achieved by this collaboration, and we look forward to creating many more such success stories together."

Highlighting the importance of the IIS-MJA partnership, Rushdee Warley CEO of IIS said, "I strongly believe the IIS-Manipur Judo Program is a great example of an active partnership with a deep focus on the development of a sport that the state can adopt and champion. Taking lessons from the world-class daily training environment we've created at the IIS, we're adding a region-specific layer of grassroots development for Judo that will help broaden its reach and results for India. We have a strong contingent of Judokas hailing from Manipur that are currently training at IIS. The opportunity to learn more about what has made Manipur a stronghold of Judo in India is something that will allow us to further enhance our judo programme as well as create further opportunities for Judokas from the state to take up fully funded scholarships at IIS. This kind of a public-private partnership is what we strive to achieve as a sustainable model for building India's Olympic success story."

"That we are able to conduct a tournament in Manipur is a win-win for IIS, because a large number of Judokas come from this region. The tournament is also a great chance for all of us at IIS to learn more about what makes them so successful," said Rushdee Warley, CEO of the Inspire Institute of Sport.