WIDER IMAGE-Boxing school in Rio slum shows sport’s power before Olympics (Reuters)

By Daniel Flynn and Nacho Doce RIO DE JANEIRO, June 17 (Reuters) – Beneath a street lamp in one of Rio de Janeiro’s slums, 19-year-old boxer Wanderson de Oliveira does pull-ups from a metal bar outside the Fight for Peace academy while two skinny young boys watch intently. Much of the Complexo da Maré, a teeming neighborhood of 140,000 people near Rio’s international airport, remains in the grip of drug gangs despite efforts to break their hold on the city’s poor districts ahead of the August Olympic Games. For many young residents like Oliveira, the academy offers a glimpse of an alternative: a chance to build discipline and self-esteem through boxing and martial arts.
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