Mumbai, Nov. 11 -- A stone's throw away from the Mahalaxmi Race Course is a 1BHK flat with no ceiling fans. The paint has chipped off the walls, and a few electrical sockets are held together by tape. The bedroom, no more than six feet wide and 10 feet long, has nothing more than weights placed neatly on the floor. The kitchen has a solitary plastic cupboard stocked with boxing gloves. And in the drawing room, a punching bag hangs down the centre, with a few more stacked in a corner near the window. By the evenings, the small flat springs to life. As many as 20 budding pugilists flock to the tiny flat that is the BMCLD, Mumbai's oldest surviving boxing club. "This club was formed in 1962 by Rohinton Sethana," explained Bipin Mahida, the coach who maintains the facility. "The BMC had created several clubs around the city for their Labour Department staff. The clubs were to provide some activity for the workers and their children in the evening. Some clubs were for kabaddi, some for other things like tailoring. This was boxing." Mahida, now 41, was once a student at the club. At that time though, the club thrived in its original location, about 200 meters west of its current spot. "It was a small room back then too, but we had a nice big courtyard where we would practice," Mahida, who has competed at the nationals in the 56kg event, said. "People used to watch as well and cheer. It was a nice community thing." That old spot has been demolished and is currently hidden behind blue tin sheets. Soon, it will be replaced by a posh residential tower. The shift to the flat, that took place in June last year, marked the end of the little support that came from the government body for the club that still bears its name. Now it runs on Mahida's efforts. "I wanted to keep this place alive," said the coach, who works as a physical education teacher at a school and is also a personal trainer. The club serves is a microcosm of the city's boxing culture. "The first national championship for boxing was held in Mumbai (1950), the first Arjuna Awardee for boxing was from Mumbai (Buddy D'Souza in 1961), the first Asian Championship that was held in India was in Mumbai (in 1980)." lists Jay Kowli, president of the Mumbai City Boxing Association and former secretary general of the national federation. "Mumbai has always been the home of Indian boxing. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of infighting which has led to the drop." Coincidentally though, while the BMCLD has not received any governmental support, it is in municipal schools that Mumbai's boxing culture has started to rebuild. "Some of our recent big India players - like Bhavesh Kattimani (bronze medallist from the 2019 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championship) and reigning 75kg national champion Nikhil Dubey were all groomed in these BMC schools." Mumbai's boxing culture dates back to the 1920s. Many of the clubs that had been started pre-independence shut down. But the BMCLD is still running. "That club used to thrive, but there has not been much support from the city district association, which is mired in internal disputes," said Kowli. Yet, it survives....