London’s mayor praised a Merton Park school for being a “womb of talent” during a martial arts initiative launched by police.

Boris Johnson joined Merton police’s borough commander at the Nuffield Health gym in Wimbledon, where he took part in a boxing and martial arts intitiave aimed at boosting confidence in young people.

Mr Johnson said: "I enjoyed the boxing. It's also wonderful to see so many kids having a good time.

“Innovative and exciting projects like this are vital to help us continue to bring down crime in the capital and equip young people for tough economic times.

“Rutlish School is a womb of talent and I hope these kids will be our sporting hopefuls in 2016. Some of them are punching hard already!"

There were 21 boys from Rutlish School along with Police Cadets taking part in the first session of the course, an introduction to boxing, on Thursday May 24.

The launch of Merton’s police’s ‘Team TKO’ initiative are run by qualified instructors in martial arts including karate, taekwondo, judo and ju jitsu.

TKO, which stands for Technique, Knowledge, Opportunity, was also backed by former boxing champions Tim Witherspoon and Richie Woodall.

Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Williams, Borough Commander for Merton Police, who is also one of the TKO instructors said: “The project has been a huge success and is designed to be fun.

“It gives young people the opportunity to get to know their local officers in an informal atmosphere and encourages them to become more physically active and socially confident."

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