Ace shuttler Jwala Gutta is set to launch her own sports academy, ‘Jwala Gutta Academy of Excellence’ to train and nurture talented youth, she announced on Tuesday. The launch announcement was attended by Olympic star and boxer Vijender Singh, wrestler Sushil Kumar and BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy in New Delhi.
Though the academy will initially focus on badminton, it will later branch out to different sports, according to Jwala.
And we are here!! @JwalaGuttaAcad pic.twitter.com/TMljZi7c1H
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) December 10, 2019
Discussing the future academy, Jwala told ANI, “We are not restricting this academy of excellence to just badminton. We will add more sports to it going ahead. We will provide every type of facility, it will be disability-friendly, we have an adequate number of coaches. High-performance training will be our focus.”
She further added, “Through sports, we learn what is right and what is wrong. We should inculcate sports, it is the need of the hour. The government should look to bring sports to the forefront.”
संस्कार और अनुशासन का अद्भुत मेल है खेल... आज अर्जुन पुरस्कार से सम्मानित प्रख्यात बैडमिंटन खिलाड़ी @Guttajwala द्वारा संचालित @JwalaGuttaAcad के लिए प्रतीक चिन्ह का अनावरण कार्यक्रम में पहलवान @WrestlerSushil और मुक्केबाज @boxervijender के साथ।
— Rajiv Pratap Rudy (@RajivPratapRudy) December 10, 2019
उत्तरोत्तर प्रगति की शुभकामना! pic.twitter.com/nnvujM1O7M
Congratulating Jwala, Vijender Singh said, “Even I thought that I would launch my own boxing academy but that didn’t happen because I kept moving from UK to Dubai and USA.” He added, “I wish you all the best [to Jwala].”
Several celebrities and sportsmen including, cricketers Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla, director Shirish Kunder, actors Pulkit Saman, Lakshmi Manchu, Vishnu Vishal, Vishnu Manchu and Naveen Polishetty and comedian Sorabh Pant, promoted the academy through videos on Twitter.
Jwala Gutta has earlier been the brand ambassador of Global Academy for Badminton, which has branches in Hyderabad.
On the sidelines of the event, Jwala also objected to actor Sunil Shetty being chosen as the brand ambassador of the National Anti-Doping Agency. She opined that a sports person should have been chosen as the brand ambassador instead.