All the talk in Greater Noida these days seems to be centre around sports and real estate. And that was certainly brought home at a press conference held near the Yamuna Expressway where London Olympics bronze medal winning boxer MC Mary Kom announced the opening of a boxing academy bearing her name.

Backed by real estate developers Supertech Limited, the company’s chief managing director R. K. Arora admitted that the appreciation in land value was one of the driving factors for his company’s involvement with the project.

“As we have seen with another developer hosting Formula 1, it (the academy) will also boost the real estate market,” said Arora.

Announcing her intention to prepare for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Kom stated that she expected to see the academy beginning to function within the next three years.

The subject of Kom receiving an apartment in the planned township near the academy wasn’t ducked either with Arora admitting it when asked by a reporter during the press conference.