The highly popular ProKabaddi tournament had no takers when television commentator Charu Sharma proposed the idea in 2013, but he believed in his concept to make it a successful event.
Similarly, one of the promoters of Indian Badminton League, Ashish Chadha, had to meet over 330 people and take 300 plus flights to sell the idea, but everybody discouraged it questioning the viewership for badminton in India.
Now, badminton is the only sport that gave India an Olympic medal, said Mr. Chadha. He was speaking at a panel discussion on ‘opportunities in Indian sports and entertainment industry’ held as part of the August Fest.
Mr. Chadha said that sports contribute 10.8 per cent to the GDP of U.S.A., and sports drive their economy. However, in India, it is less than 0.01 per cent. But, opportunities are endless in sports.
‘Build people’
The second day of the festival also saw Ryan Patel, board director at American Red Cross LA, speaking on ‘going global, ways to develop global brands and teams’. He told the participants to build people who will build organisations for them. Rajendran Dandapni of Zoho Corporation spoke on ‘scaling and time-proofing start-up philosophy’. He said our education teaches us lot of irrelevant things and very little relevant things. And those few relevant things that are taught won’t have context.
Carman Chan, a popular investor from Hong Kong, addressed the gathering on ‘investing around the world’. She gave tools to collaborate and enlightened the audience about how various governments across the world encourage start-ups and their policies.
“Sports contribute 10.8 per cent to the GDP of U.S.A, but it is less than 0.01 per cent in India”
