Avinash and Akshay from MES make it big in kickboxing

Kickboxing as a martial art has indeed gained plenty of impetus in the past few years. Every year, more and more students are learning the sport. Two students from MES Vidya Mandir, Belapur, have won laurels in the recently-held state-level kickboxing championship which was organised at Balewadi, Pune.
Avinash Sunil Kamble and Akshay Jagannath Kolekar have won silver and bronze medals in the event and achieved the 6th Dan Black belt ranking in Kickboxing now.
MES, Belapur, provides students an option to attend hobby classes after school hours. Avinash and Akshay chose kickboxing and have been learning the sport under their coach Rajan Deshmukh for the past five years.
Both Avinash and Akshay are class X students and have won many laurels on their way to attaining the prestigious black belt. The Indian martial Arts Federation (IMF) has awarded Avinash an honourary degree of Diamond of IMF for 2011. "Avinash has been awarded this honour because of his remarkable performance in various championships throughout these years. In fact, Akshay too had been conferred this honour by IMF in 2010," said Harinder Chahel, the principal of the school.
In the seven years that Avinash has been learning the sport, he has won four gold medals in 2008 and 2010 at national and state level championships. He also won two bronze medals in 2009-2010 at the state-level championships. While, Akshay Kolekar has won three gold medals in the national and state-level championships held in 2008 to 2010. He has also won two silvers and three bronzes between 2007 and 2010.
"These children are so talented that they have won laurels in an activity they don't even learn full-time. Their coach Rajan Deshmukh has trained them extremely well, and many of his students have excelled in many tournaments and championships held throughout the year," said Chahel.
Needless to say, coach Deshmukh is very proud of his students. However, he attributes the rewards to all the hard work and effort Avinash and Akshay have put in. "Today, the future of martial arts in India and abroad is very bright. Achieving the 6 Dan black belt is very difficult but these two have achieved it. I can say for sure that they have a great future if they go for advanced training in martial arts," said Deshmukh.