ITV

Category: Sports

  • Private sector should partner with the government to encourage sports

    Private sector should partner with the government to encourage sports

    NEW DELHI: Sports secretary Ajit M Sharan of the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry has urged the private sector to participate and partner with the government and the apex chamber to promote sports in the country.

     
    The stakeholders need to actively engage at all levels to improve India’s ranking as a sporting nation.

     
    He said the government is launching a National Talent Search Scheme to scout for sports talent in various schools and institutions across the country. The National Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine (NISSM), is already in place to support high performance of sports persons and integrate sciences and medicine into the training of elite sports persons and the curriculum of sport coaching in the country.

                                          
    Sharan was inaugurating ‘India Sports 2014’at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. He released a knowledge paper ‘Business of Sports – Aiming Higher….. Reaching Further!’ The paper looks at the sports industry and makes predictions for the upcoming decade. The paper provides information about the state of play and trends in the market for sports business in India.

     
    The three-day sports event on the theme ‘Making India as a Sporting Nation’ is organised by FICCI in association with Sports Authority of India. This focus is on strategic dialogues to bring together senior decision makers and renowned Indian and international sports industry players to deliberate on profitable promotion and grassroots development of sports in the country.

     
    Sharan also said that the setting up of Sector Skills Council in Sports is a big step towards making India a sporting nation in future. The council will devise ways to reduce skills gap and shortage improve productivity, hone the skills of the sector work force and improve learning.

     
    He said sports in India has witnessed stagnation in the last few decades. The challenges in the sector are numerous but some of which call for immediate attention such as development of a structured system at the grass root level to engage young boys and girls in the age group of 8-10 years in various sports; identifying and nurturing young talent based on their performance, talent and calibre; providing professional training, sporting equipment and wholesome nourishment to the identified sports persons; organizing regular competitions of international standard at the domestic level to measure the performance of local sports persons; setting up sports science and sports medicine centres to support the sports fraternity and providing alternative viable vocational career options to players to ensure their livelihood.

     
    FICCI Sports Committee chairman and Tata Metaliks MD Sanjiv Paul said with the support of MYAS, FICCI has finally received the approval for setting up Sector Skills Council in Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure sector. According to a latest study, this sector will require more than 4.3 million support personnel in various roles in sports in the coming 10 years.

     
    Paul thanked the Ministry for guiding FICCI on the issue of ‘demand of Industry Status to Sports Sector’. After FICCI’s representation on industry status to sports, there was a committee setup under the chairmanship of Director General, Sports Authority of India, where FICCI prepared a report on ‘granting infrastructure status to Sports Sector’.

     
    Deloitte LLP UK sports business group consultant Richard battle,said that there were numerous ways to promote sports. One of the most commercially successful models in India has been the Indian Premier League in cricket, which has phenomenally thrived. India now faces the challenge of replicating this model for other sports.

     
    Sahara India Pariwa publich affairs and communication VP Abhijit Sarka said that India has the talent to be amongst the top sporting countries in the world. It is also recognized that a lot more needs to be done, especially in the development of sports at the grassroots level where states have an important role to play if India has to reap the advantage of the positive momentum and claim its rightful place amongst the top sporting countries. The private sector should come forward and participate more proactively.

     
    FICCI Sports Committee co-chairman and Coca-Cola India public affair and corporate communication head Deepak Jolly said that there was both hope and optimism to make India a sporting nation. There is a long way to go but efforts are being made and India is moving in the right direction to achieve its goal. He added that India has done well in games and sports such as chess, which are primarily mind games. Sports requiring physical strength and stamina still need to be encouraged adequately for India to perform well at the international level.

     

  • Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography Playing It My Way released

    Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography Playing It My Way released

    MUMBAI: The highest run-scorer in the history of international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar  who retired in 2013 after playing for an astonishing 24 years is back again. Tendulkar along with publishers Hachette India released his much awaited autobiography, Playing It My Way.

    In an hour long event, master of ceremonies Harsha Bhogle took the audience through Tendulkar’s life and the evolution of Indian cricket with interesting on-stage conversations with Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Vasu Paranjpe, and the famed ‘class of ’98’ (with Sourav Ganguli, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar himself). The formal book release saw Tendulkar present the first copy to his first coach and guru Ramakant Achrekar. This was followed by the final session which was a solo conversation with the author himself.

    Talking about the events captured in the book Sachin Tendulkar said, “Playing It My Way’ is a different sort of innings for me, and was in the making for the last three years.  As with the game, I have been honest and sincere in putting together various aspects of my life, and the book is something I hope readers will enjoy.”

    Hachette India managing director Thomas Abraham commented “This is an absolutely outstanding book–at once cricketing history and personal narrative; and will delight every cricketing fan. We are delighted to welcome Sachin Tendulkar to our list and are proud to be publishing this landmark autobiography which we’re sure, like its author will go on to set new records.”

    The book has in fact already set the Indian record for the largest adult hardback orders on day of release with 1,00,000 copies being released by the publishers.  While lucky guests got the chance to purchase early ‘launch’ copies, the book is heavily embargoed and was transported across the country under security for simultaneous release today.

    The book y releases as a hardback and simultaneous eBook from today. An audiobook version will follow early next year as will Indian language versions in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Bengali.

     

  • LIV Sports bags exclusive rights for Ram Slam T20 challenge series

    LIV Sports bags exclusive rights for Ram Slam T20 challenge series

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM) today announced that its digital sports entertainment destination LIV Sports has acquired the mobile and internet broadcast rights of the South African Ram Slam T20 challenge series for India. The competition began on 2 November 2014 and will run through 12 December 2014. The game will be hosted across all South Africa’s cricket stadiums.

     

    It will offer both live and video-on-demand match content, with informative statistics and analysis.  The digital destination will air 14 live matches, free of cost and the rest of the matches will be available for video-on-demand viewing.

     

    Commenting on the acquisition Sony Entertainment Network executive vice president and head digital Uday Sodhi said “We are immensely excited to bring the Ram Slam T20 challenge series. The digital destination was conceived to offer quality sports-entertainment content that is mass inclusive and not designed to cater only to ardent sports fans. We are committed to keep every cross section of our consumers hailing from different parts of India actively engaged through quality interactive sports content.”

     

    The Ram Slam T2O challenge series is South Africa’s domestic T20 league where six teams battle it out over six weeks to win the trophy. The top two teams qualify for the champions league T20. Like the Indian Premier League, the competition features South Africa’s T20 players and international stars. This season’s top players include Chris Gayle, Dale Steyn, David Miller, AB DeVilliers and Faf du Plessis.

  • Repucom eyes India’s expansion to a multi sport nation

    Repucom eyes India’s expansion to a multi sport nation

    MUMBAI: The year 2014 has been a wonderful one for sports in India. With a number of sporting leagues starting and big conglomerates putting in their money and muscles to make India a multi sport country, the brands are ready to jump on to the band wagon.

     

    To run the show, finances of a large magnitude, a sustained and reliable inflow of premium information and analytics is of crucial importance  and so is the evaluation to help clubs, teams, franchise owners or sponsors to better understand the returns of sponsorships as well as, provide a frame of reference for future projects and aids in the planning process. However, not all has been and can be evaluated. So, here comes Repucom, a sport marketing research company, which helps find a solution to this.

     

     The research company, with more than 20 offices worldwide and 1000 plus clients, conducts sponsorship evaluation, market research, consultancy, media evaluation and commercial auditing. And keeping an eye on India’s growing sport culture, Repucom is all set to cash-in on the frenzy.

     

    Repucom south Asia senior VP and India director Joseph Eapen says, “India is one of our key country of interest, from a cricket crazy country, now a truly a multi-sport country. From the past seven years, we were providing the sponsorship ROI metrics for cricket – IPL and all homes series; then came HIL, IBL, racing, and this year we are providing the same for Pro Kabaddi League, Indian Super League, running and International Premier Tennis League. So it is an important time and we are on it to quantity the investments.”

    So how is it all done?

     

    The company covers a varied amount of sports research through its various initiatives. It conducts sponsorship evaluation for TV, print and the online space. It arrives at ROI in terms of 100 per cent advertising equivalency and mainly quality index that quantifies the ROI on the basis of the quality of integration with the sport or any branded content. The quality factor it considers is size, duration, position and number of brand hits.

     

    Through social intelligence it picks up drivers of social conversations like the rights holders, the event, the sponsors, the celebrity associated with it or the promotional activities around an event, organic and  otherwise and develop a KPI score card that provides clients insights on a pre-event, weekly, monthly as well as post event basis. In the case of the Hero ISL, it was done on a daily basis.

     

    Through Bespoke Research it utilizes methodologies tailored to the individual requirements of clients. Sports DNA is a sponsorship planning and monitoring tool for clients pursuing an international strategy. According to Eapen, it is the world’s largest multi-client sports study, running consecutively since 2000, allowing high-quality market research via consistent and comparable methodology. It is built upon a twice-yearly survey of over 30 markets worldwide to deliver a wide range of insights globally.

     

    Similarly, Catalyst is a framework that analyses the effectiveness of on-site activation in the context of sponsorships which generates key insights on property engagement and attendee profiling, activation diagnosis and impacts on brands. Currently it is being done for Procam International (for their activations leading to the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon) in 30 plus locations in India.

     

    But the tool which is creating the most buzz is Celebrity DBI. It is an independent index that quantifies and qualifies consumer perceptions of celebrities. The categories of celebrities indexed include actors, athletes, film and TV stars, musical performers, business leaders etc. Subcategory examples include coaches, designers, chefs, politicians. It evaluates celebrities in 13 key markets worldwide like Germany, France, Italy, United States, China, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Japan, India etc.

     

    “It’s the only global celebrity evaluation service designed to provide superior brand-relevant insights. Brands, agencies, rights holders, teams, leagues and other marketers worldwide can measure, compare and leverage the impact of celebrities both locally and globally. The expanded database features more than 5,000,” says Eapen.

     

    In India the company has been working with IMG, Hero, Muthoot, Pepsi, Vodafone, Yes Bank, Star Sports, USL, Garnier Men, Airtel, Standard Chartered, Mahindra, Toyota, Red Bull, Johnnie Walker, Nokia and Panasonic. For branded content it has been working with Idea, L’oreal, Tata tea, Snapdeal, Vodafone, Sunfeast, Maruti, Cornetto, Lux, Oreo and Lenovo.

     

    For the ongoing ISL the company has firehose access to twitter feeds and a special tool to look at Facebook posts, plus uses Crimson Hexagon, Social Bakers and other tools are used by their in-house and global digital team.

     

    It has also been working with broadcasters for their branded content analysis it says it is proud of their association with Viacom18, especially Colors, as they have a contract to provide ROI metrics for all of their branded content.

     

    In the field of cricket the company has been conducting commercial auditing for ICC; as their compliance monitor – policing the broadcast of rights-related content through compliance monitoring helps to ensure that all events, branding and commercial stipulations are adhered to according to contract.

     

    With India now being a key market that is offering a lot of consumption potential for the business of sports, according to Eapen, besides the usual four of gate revenues, sponsorship revenues, media rights and merchandising there is another added factor- the 10+2 ad cap. “This reduction in ad inventory will force brands to look at integration and placement within the content – sport is an ideal platform for this

     

    Talking about the company’s future expansion plans in India, Eapen informs that a lot of growth will happen from the sport sponsorship consultancy services turn knowledge into action. “Our fact-based insight and recommendations allow brands, right holders and agencies to maximise the value of their investments in sport and entertainment” he concludes.

     

  • Unmukt and Vinay Kumar to play for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2015

    Unmukt and Vinay Kumar to play for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2015

    MUMBAI: While the country is currently engulfed with football fever with the ongoing Hero Indian Super League, cricket fans are in for some good news. The league that started it all, Pepsi Indian Premier League, in its eighth season, is set to kick off on 8 April 2015, and conclude on 24 May 2015.

     

    The first trading window for the tournament opened on 6 October 2014. So far two players have been traded; Mumbai Indians have acquired Unmukt Chand from Rajasthan Royals and R Vinay Kumar from Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively.

     

     Chand had led the India Under-19 cricket team to the U-19 Cricket World Cup victory in 2012. During the IPL season seven he was bought for Rs 65 lakhs by Rajasthan Royals. Vinay Kumar was picked up by KKR for Rs 2.8 crore.

    Mumbai Indians have also released Michael Hussey and Praveen Kumar (Pepsi IPL 2014 replacement player), both of whom may enter the Pepsi IPL 2015 Player Auction.

     

    The first trading window will close on  12 December 2014.

     

    Meanwhile, BCCI hon. secretary Sanjay Patel said that the IPL governing council has also decided the windows for the 2016 and 2017 seasons of the tournament. Further mentioning the dates, he said, “The Pepsi IPL 2016 will be played in the window between 8 April 2016 and 29 May 2016 while IPL 2017 will be played from 5 April 2017 to 21 May 2017.” 

     

     

    The previous seventh season was won by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

  • Coca-Cola teams up with IPTL as title sponsor

    Coca-Cola teams up with IPTL as title sponsor

    MUMBAI: The upcoming International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) has got a title sponsor in Coca-Cola.

     

    The brand which is associated with large sporting events ranging from the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, NASCAR, NBA etc is now making a foray into tennis through the tennis league.

     

    In its capacity as title sponsor, the cola company will undertake a series of initiatives to engage with tennis fans across the globe. These include a special promotion to select three lucky fans to be the ‘Coin Toss’ boys/girls for three matches.

     

    It will be adopting IPTL’s special competition feature called the Happiness PowerPoint, which will allow each team to call for a Happiness PowerPoint once in each single-set match. Upon winning the point, a player trailing 15-0 will directly get to 15-30 by winning the ‘Happiness PowerPoint’ and lose a point upon losing the Happiness PowerPoint. In case the score is tied at the end of five single-set matches, a seven point men’s singles shoot-out will be played and the result will count as a game point won.

     

    Coca-Cola India vice president marketing and commercial Debabrata Mukherjee said, “Our purpose of associating with the IPTL is twofold. On one hand, it will allow millions of passionate tennis fans to enjoy their favorite sport and also witness some of the world’s most iconic tennis stars display their skills. On the other hand this initiative will serve as a perfect platform to launch a ‘Culture of Tennis’ in India. The initiative will provide great impetus to the youngsters of today who will get inspired by some of the world’s most accomplished and inspirational tennis stars to take up the sport”.

     

    IPTL founder Mahesh Bhupathi commented, “I welcome Coca-Cola to the IPTL family today. We’re excited to present the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League to the growing base of tennis enthusiasts across the world and look forward to providing to them superior recognition and visibility among fans internationally.”

     

    In its inaugural season, the multi-million dollar tennis league will feature top stars such as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and others playing for four franchises in India, Singapore, Philippines and the UAE.

  • Sony Six bags broadcast rights for Ram Slam T20 Challenge 2014

    Sony Six bags broadcast rights for Ram Slam T20 Challenge 2014

    MUMBAI: Sony Six and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have announced that the sports channel has acquired the broadcasting rights of the Ram Slam t20 Challenge for the 2014 – 2015 South African cricket season for the Indian sub-continent.

     

    The deal means that the Ram Slam gets televised globally for the second season, following last season’s introduction to the rest of the world. The competition started on 2 November with the final scheduled for 12 December.

     

    Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, ‘‘This exciting property adds a bold and new dimension to our existing array of sports properties. With the acquisition of the rights, we truly believe we are heading in the right direction in establishing our foothold in providing entertaining sporting content, which is what today’s viewers across demographics are truly looking for.”

     

    CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat, commented: “We welcome Six as a new CSA partner and congratulate them on their acquisition. South African cricket is currently riding the crest of a wave with our national team, the Proteas, being ranked number one in both Test match and ODI cricket. The presence of our Proteas plus a galaxy of international stars will add further gloss to a great competition.”

     

    Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Craig Kieswetter, Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle are some of the international player’s who will be playing during the Ram Slam this season. The action got underway yesterday at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg with a clash between the Knights and Warriors at 1 30 pm on Six HD.

  • Abhinav Bindra elected chairman of ISSF Athletes Committee

    Abhinav Bindra elected chairman of ISSF Athletes Committee

    MUMBAI: Olympic Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra has been elected chairman of the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) athletes committee. The ISSF which  is the world body representing the sport confirmed the appointment in a letter that was sent to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), which is the representative body of the sport in India.

     

    Bindra will be the first Indian shooter to be bestowed with this honour and by virtue of being chairman of the committee he will also become a member of the administrative council of the ISSF.

     

    Bindra said, “It is a great honour, not only for me personally but also for the country as a whole. This honour comes with the great responsibility of representing the views and concerns of shooting athletes from across the globe appropriately, effectively and in a balanced manner towards the betterment of the sport, and I look forward to doing justice towards serving that end.”

     

    NRAI president, Raninder Singh commented, “It is a matter of great pride for the whole Indian shooting fraternity that Abhinav has been elected to such a prestigious position. He has always been eager to do his bit for the athletes and the sport of shooting. He has also been very proactive within the NRAI itself in trying to raise the bar of Indian shooting continuously. We are confident that he will shine as always in this new responsibility as well and wish him all the very best.”

  • IPTL announces team coaches for inaugural edition

    IPTL announces team coaches for inaugural edition

    MUMBAI:  One of the most exciting new developments in tennis tournament is the highly anticipated International Premier Tennis League (IPTL). The championship league, that is all set to launch in November 2014, has appointed veteran tennis coaches Joshua Eagle and John Laffnie De Jager as coaches of the Singapore ‘Slammers’ and the UAE ‘Royals’ respectively. The distinguished Fabrice Santoro and Manila native Treat Huey, who is currently ranked ATP Doubles World No. 40, will be the player-coaches for the Micromax Indian ‘Aces’ and Manila ‘Mavericks’.

     

    The revolutionary new league promises an exciting format and exclusive innovations that will change the way in which the world enjoys this top sport. Some of these thrilling features include time outs, power points, shoot-outs, a running shot clock, and venues equipped with Hawk-Eye will keep all spectators in the stadium and viewers watching from home at the edge of their seats. There will also be live entertainment during all matches.

     

    The traditional scoring format has been changed to single-set no-add scoring, which will speed up the games and enable the fans to experience up to 24 different players in one exhilarating evening.  While each match will consist of 5 sets comprising men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and former Champions singles, each game won will count as one point for the team points total. The team, that wins the most games overall across the five sets, wins the match. Coaches will play significant roles during each match, guiding players on team strategy, calling for time-outs to discuss strategy, fostering a team atmosphere and getting each player to play for the team in a sport considered highly individual. All four coaches will help their respective teams formulate a winning strategy.

     

    France’s Fabrice Santoro is player and coach of the Micromax Indian ‘Aces’. He is a distinguished doubles player, holds several ATP records, and has made an unbeaten 70 appearances in singles competition at Grand Slam events. He is also the only male player to have appeared in Grand Slam singles competitions in four different decades. Fabrice’s charming demeanor and repertoire of trick shots make him a delight to watch.

     

    Singapore ‘Slammers’ coach Joshua Eagle is a former professional male tennis player and current professional tennis coach from Australia. In January 2013, he was appointed as the Australian Davis Cup coach, having previously won Tennis Australia’s elite coaching excellence award in 2012 for helping Australian Marinko Matosevic break into the top 50 from outside 200. Eagle is classified as a doubles specialist and has won five ATP doubles titles.

     

    UAE Royals coach John-Laffnie de Jager is a South African former tour professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, de Jager reached the semi-finals for three different grand slam tournaments three times in three different years partnering three different fellow South African players. De Jager is the current non-playing captain of the South Africa Davis Cup team.

     

    Like Santoro, Filipino-American tennis player Treat Huey is also player and coach. The Manila ‘Mavericks’ player specializes in doubles and has reached three finals on the ATP World Tour. Huey reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 21 in November 2013. The 28-year-old is the Philippines’ #1 and current ATP Doubles World No. 40. The player’s fans will get to see him live in action at a home event for the first time.

     

    The new team tennis competition featuring the best current and former ATP and WTA players will be played across 4 selected cities in Asia (Manila, Singapore, Delhi and Dubai) from 28 November to 13 December 2014.

  • LIV Sports bags exclusive rights for the Champions Tennis League

    LIV Sports bags exclusive rights for the Champions Tennis League

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM) has announced that its digital sports entertainment destination www.LIVSports.in holds the mobile and internet broadcast rights of the Champions Tennis League (CTL) for India.

     

    The league has been conceptualised by Vijay Amritraj and All India Tennis Association (AITA). Viewers will be able to watch the live telecast of the league and catch video-on-demand highlights on LIV Sports.

     

    Sony Entertainment Network executive vice president and head digital Uday Sodhi commented that the network was excited to bring the CTL, which has been designed to ignite the passion for tennis and inculcate a love for the sport. “LIV Sports started as the official mobile and internet broadcaster for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil and then moved on to bagging the exclusive web and mobile rights for the ongoing qualifying matches for the 15th European Championship – Euro 2016, for India. It was conceived to offer quality sports-entertainment content that is mass inclusive and not designed to cater only to ardent sports fans”, he added.

     

    The CTL teams made up of the world’s top 25 ranked male and female players will be structured into two groups, each having three teams each, where they would play each other in a home and away format. The teams topping their respective group will play each other in the grand finale for the prize money of Rs 1 crore. The runner-up will receive Rs 50 lakhs. Each of the six teams will also have an international legend as their playing captain, apart from a noted Indian male tennis player, plus a top ranked junior Indian girl and boy from each city.

     

    The CTL will feature six city based teams, who will play 12 matches over a 10-day period from 17 November to 26 November 2014. Each of the six official CTL teams from Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai comprises of Indian and International marquee players, including local youngsters handpicked by AITA. Some notable players to participate in India include Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, Somdev Dewarman and David Ferrer among others.