Corporate boost for Indian sport

MUMBAI, May 20: Indian sports received a corporate shot in the arm from Videocon. The electronics giant, sponsors of the Fourth National Ga...

MUMBAI, May 20: Indian sports received a corporate shot in the arm from Videocon. The electronics giant, sponsors of the Fourth National Games, are flexing their financial muscle by allocating a corpus fund of Rs 50 lakhs.

The group’s Marketing & Sales Director, N Gupta, told reporters last night that the money will be utilised in consultation with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to provide international training to those who hold promise of excelling at the Olympic level.

The IOA will be naming the beneficiaries of the scheme after the conclusion of the Fourth National Games, to be co-hosted by Bangalore and Mysore.

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Outstanding performers at the National Games, whose performances are comparable with the last Asian Games performances will merit consideration.

The corpus fund of Rs 50 lakhs may be inadequate considering that there are 26 disciplines in the National Games. However, Mr Gupta stated that if by the end of the year there is a feeling that the initial outlay is insufficient, Videocon will boost the corpus further.

Ajay Kumar Sarnaik, Karnataka’s Sports Minister, who was present on the occasion, allayed fears that cycling may be excluded from the Games because of the non-availability of a velodrome. The event will now be staged in two places the road races at Bangalore and the track at Ludhiana. The latter will be completed before the commencement of the Games so as to enable the cyclists to make it for the opening ceremony.

Sarnaik said the Karnataka state government has sought the help of several corporate houses to promote sporting infrastructure. Under the scheme, various stadia built for the National Games, would be named after the corporate bodies.

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Sarnaik said the BPL group has come forward with a Rs six crore sponsorship while Mukand Steel and ACC have offered Rs three and Rs two crore respectively for the development of sports activities.

Over Rs 97 crore has been spent on upgrading facilities at various stadia in Bangalore and Mysore. The Karnataka Housing Board has spent over Rs 400 crore in building a special village comprising 3,700 flats for housing over 5,700 athletes and officials.