Tucked inside a botanical garden, a brand-new boxing training centre just opened its doors — and for the young fighters of Pasighat, it could change everything.
PASIGHAT, Oct 2 — When MLA Tapi Darang stepped into the premises of the Pasighat Botanical Garden (High Region) on Thursday to inaugurate the newly established boxing training centre, it wasn’t just a ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was a statement — that East Siang is serious about its fighters, and it’s time to give them a real place to train.
The centre has been set up by the East Siang Amateur Boxing Association (ESABA), and its arrival has been welcomed with genuine excitement across the local sports community. For years, young boxers from the region have shown up, punched above their weight at state-level competitions, and then gone home with nowhere proper to prepare for the next one. That changes now.
MLA Darang, while speaking at the event, expressed hope that the centre would give aspiring boxers a dedicated space to train, sharpen their skills, and genuinely nurture the talent that this region clearly has in abundance. It’s the kind of space that doesn’t just produce athletes — it produces belief.
Teli Kahi, general secretary of the Arunachal Amateur Boxing Association, didn’t shy away from acknowledging what Arunachal’s young pugilists have already been achieving. He pointed to the impressive performances put up by fighters from across the state — including from East Siang district — at recent state-level boxing competitions. “We will extend all possible help to ESABA,” he assured the gathering, and those weren’t empty words coming from someone in his position.
Tagom Padung, Chief of Pasighat Municipal Council, and ESABA general secretary Kayang Darang both took the stage to stress the bigger picture — that sports, when nurtured at the grassroots level, can give young people direction, discipline, and a future worth fighting for. In a region where opportunity can sometimes feel distant, a well-equipped training centre is more than infrastructure. It’s hope with a roof over it.
ESABA president Bharat Lego was perhaps the most direct about what this centre is meant to do. The goal, he said, is straightforward: identify young talent, build them up, and prepare them to compete not just at the state level but on national platforms too. That kind of ambition — rooted in community effort — is exactly what grassroots sports development is supposed to look like.
The occasion also had its own moment of celebration. Three young boxers — Kamin Tayeng, Luke Jerang, and Miding Tamuk — were felicitated for their standout performances at the state-level open boxing competition. For these three, the recognition must have felt like both a reward for the past and a push toward something bigger.
Pasighat has long had the fighters. Now it finally has the facility to match.
