“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.
Everyone in the neighborhood missed her.
» Posted in front of the fresco signed by the graffiti artist Sylvain, which adorns the entrance to the new sports complex, these two mothers from the Val-Fourré district are pawing with impatience.
They are waiting for its inauguration this Saturday to discover this space exclusively dedicated to combat sports.
Inside, four brand new rooms: one dedicated to boxing, another to fists equipped with a dojo and punching bags, the third to the practice of mixed martial arts (Mixed Martial Art and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ) and a last one for physical preparation.
All will be accessible from this Monday, March 4, to associations and residents.
Managed by the city, they will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week.
“After the riots, the rooms were unusable”
A rebirth for this place, which was heavily affected during the riots of June 2023, by a fire which ravaged the annexed town hall.
“This room was closed in 2016 and remained empty.
Two years ago, we started the work and there were the events of July, modestly relates the mayor (DVD) Raphaël Cognet to evoke the riots following the death of Nahel in Nanterre (92).
Here, nothing burned, but the room was unusable: the walls were blackened by the smoke from the fire in the annexed town hall, the dojos flooded.
We had to start all over again.
We wanted to reopen but to do something else.
» 700,000 euros of work will have been necessary.
Mantes-la-Jolie, this Saturday March 2.
Champion Haby Niaré is the first Taekwondo player to give her name to a sports complex.
“I have tears in my eyes,” she said in front of her dad who had traveled from Senegal.
LP/Véronique Beaugrand
Amateurs and high-level athletes
New concept, new name therefore.
And it is the Taekwondo champion, Haby Niaré, who becomes the godmother of this equipment.
Originally from the neighborhood, she knows the place well having started there.
“I suffered a lot in this room,” recalls the athlete, who was then taken on by her sister in this discipline.
“I had a dream, it was to be champion of something and ultimately taekwondo suited me very well,” says a big smile, the one who was world champion in 2013, then silver medalist at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. I hope this proves that when you believe in your dreams you can achieve them,” continues the young woman who now trains those who will participate in the Paris Olympics this summer.
This same message is also carried throughout the city.
“I want children, young people and seniors, men and women, high level and amateurism to come together here.
I would like the kids here to be able to see champions to lift them up,” continues the mayor who hopes to see new high-level athletes emerge.