Mumbai: Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra wants to rope in India's first Olympic medal winning female boxer M C Mary Kom for his Super Fight League, says a media report.
Raj Kundra is in talks with Mary for his mixed martial arts reality show, Super Fight League Challengers (SFL). The show is Kundra's venture with actor Sanjay Dutt and airs on Neo Sports and Zoom.
Raj wants Mary to join as a mentor to the female contestants on the show.
“Raj wants to rope in Mary because she has emerged as an icon for students of combat sports, especially women,” the report quoted an insider.
Raj Kundra said: “We've reached out to Mary Kom. We're in talks with her agents and have invited her on to the show. We're trying to work out a long-term association with Mary.”
He adds, “It would be great (to have her onboard) because Mary is an inspiration to all the fighters being trained for our show.”
According to Raj, India's feat at the Olympics has also helped the SFL.
“A lot of people are showing interest in it now,” he says, adding that the biggest problem he had so far was in getting sponsors.
“They would say, ‘It's a violent sport, we don't want to put money into it.'
“But now, they will realise that 80 per cent of India's medals have come from combative sports like wrestling and boxing,” says Raj,.
“Even women have taken a liking to the show. They are saying that since female fighters are being featured, they can learn a thing or two about self-defense from it. Our production quality is also good. We have gone all out,” he concludes.
