HYDERABAD: Every evening around 7 pm, when his clothing store in Mallepally shuts for the day, 32-year-old Junaid Moiuddin swaps the shop counter for boxing gloves. A neighbourhood football ground turns into his open-air boxing arena, where children train until 10 pm, sometimes 11.Among his students are girls as young as five.Junaid said the idea began with his nieces, whom he noticed spending most of their free time at home. “I wanted children to come out of their homes, spend less time on phones and get into sport. I started with my nieces and then other children began joining,” he said.What started about a year ago has grown into a neighbourhood training programme that has seen more than 100 children train with him. There is no fixed fee. When parents can contribute, Junaid uses the money to buy equipment for kids who cannot afford them. His own routine is a daily balancing act. He runs the cloth store during the day before heading to the ground at evening.Among his wards is 12-year-old Ali, who initially came only to watch. His family could not afford boxing classes. Junaid eventually brought him into the sessions.Then there is 10-year-old Afifa Fatima, who started training at seven. “The intensity of the training got to her on the third day. She broke down crying. But she kept returning,” Junaid said. Today, Afifa is one of his most regular students, and says Junaid, one of the fastest.His own boxing journey began in Bengaluru nearly a decade ago. He trained for about two years but a shoulder dislocation ended his hopes of pursuing the sport.“I don’t want these children to lose the opportunity that I lost,” he said.
