Vijayanagara, May 9 (IANS): In a first-of-its kind partnership, the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences University of Tsukuba, Japan, which will see IIS athletes travel to Japan for training camps at the university and see the delivery of Olympic-Paralympic education programmes in India.

As a first step under this cooperation, IIS Judo Head Coach Mamuka Kizilashvili will lead a group of IIS Judokas including Youth Olympic silver medallist Thangjam Tababi Devi to Tsukuba later this year for a training camp with the University Judo team.

The University of Tsukuba has strong ties to the sport of Judo, with Dr. Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo and the first Asian member of the International Olympic Committee serving as the Principal of the Tokyo Higher Normal School, the forerunner to the University of Tsukuba.

At present, the Judo programme is overseen by Head Coach Hirotaka OKADA (1992 Barcelona Olympics Bronze medallist) and Assistant Coaches Takashi ONO (2x World Championship Bronze medallist) and Hiraoka Hiroaki (2012 London Olympics Silver medallist).

The two institutions have also agreed to further strengthen collaboration by working on joint research programmes in sports science, coach development and internships for graduate students in Japan at IIS - India's first privately funded High Performance Training Centre based in Bellary district of Karnataka.