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Tag: Bajrang Punia

  • ASICS India launches new campaign to kickstart upcoming sports season

    ASICS India launches new campaign to kickstart upcoming sports season

    MUMBAI: As the world’s most-awaited quadrennial sporting event commences on 23 July, Japanese multinational sports equipment brand, ASICS launched its ‘Celebration of Sport’ campaign.

    Featuring youth icons and ASICS brand athletes who are representing India at the Tokyo Olympics – Manika Batra, Bajrang Punia, Ravindra Jadeja, Sakshi Malik, Karman Kaur Thandi, Rohan Bopanna, T. Gopi and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, apart from actor Tiger Shroff, the campaign attempts to build on the brand’s belief of achieving ‘Sound Mind In A Sound Body’. 

    Designed to defy convention and inspire today’s youth to choose well-being above anything else, Celebration of Sport is a series of three short films and highlights athletes celebrating the power of sports in the brand’s newly launched collection. Timed with the Tokyo Games and the upcoming sports season, the brand also wishes to highlight its commitment to nurturing the world’s youth through sports in order to contribute to society.

    ASICS India and South Asia managing director Rajat Khurana said, “ASICS has been a proud partner in the success journey of several athletes. Each athlete has specific requirements and we work towards it to ensure that our association helps them reach newer heights and fame. While sports and games vary, the core spirit for us remains the same. Our brand films have been developed to create a positive impact of movement not just on the body, but also on the mind. It also highlights the overall well-being of winning at all costs spirit. We are happy to see many athletes from the ASICS family bringing glory to the nation on different stages around the world.”

    Titled under the campaign, the sports brand also unveils its Autumn Winter’ 21 collection that encompasses more than five different sports, celebrating the power of all sports to uplift the mind. 

  • ABP News’ ‘Jeetega India’ captures emotions of Indian athletes ahead of Tokyo Olympics

    ABP News’ ‘Jeetega India’ captures emotions of Indian athletes ahead of Tokyo Olympics

    Mumbai: ABP News hosted a special e-conclave ‘Jeetega India’ yesterday (22 July) to mark the occasion of the Olympic Games set to commence from today in Tokyo. At this e-conclave, various honorable dignitaries from the Indian sports fraternity presented their views and expectations on the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

    The ‘Jeetega India’ e-conclave witnessed a distinguished line-up of talented and successful Indian athletes, many of whom have previously won at World Championships & Olympic Games. These included P.V. Sindhu, Bajrang Punia, Karnam Malleswari, Gagan Narang, Yogeshwar Dutt, along with the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics, C.A Bhavani Devi, National record holder and Tokyo Olympics-bound race walker, Priyanka Goswami, India’s highest-ranked table tennis player and nine-time Seniors National Champion, Sharath Kamal.

    The Olympics has the world’s largest sports audience, and unlike other sporting events, it attracts massive viewership. ‘Jeetega India,’ with its specific focus on the youth, opens up sponsorship opportunities for businesses wanting to interact with a wide range of viewers, the channel said in a statement.

    One of the key objectives of this e-conclave was to encourage youngsters to pursue their sporting ambitions and contribute towards the growth of the sporting culture in India, it added.

    Speaking about the e-conclave, ABP Network CEO Avinash Pandey said, “The ‘Jeetega India’ e-conclave is the first of many programming initiatives planned for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. At ABP News, we are committed to practicing and exhibiting our journalism in innovative and compelling ways. Our aim with such initiatives is to bring the entire country together in supporting our Olympics-bound athletes and encourage more youngsters to step into the exciting world of sports.”

    Winner of multiple Grand Slam titles, Leander Paes spoke on the e-conclave about how COVID-19 would have a massive impact on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. “Due to a delay of one year, a lot of things have changed. Rankings have changed. Players have had to reinvent themselves, elongate their trainings and what not. For a 100 metre race, athletes have to wait for 4 years for just 9 seconds. But such is life and such is sports. We have to continuously adapt ourselves,” Paes said.

    Olympic silver medalist and World Badminton champion P.V. Sindhu revealed at the conclave that Carolina Marin from Spain is her top rival, who is not playing in the Tokyo Olympics. “It is unfortunate that Carolina would not be a part of the tournament. But it is still not going to be easy. This time the challenges will be severe as we are in a very unique situation. Every day, we will have a COVID test. Masks will have to be worn at all times,” Sindhu said.

    “I was an underdog during Rio Olympics 2016 but now everyone recognises me and thinks that if I play, I will bring back the medal. So, the pressure is surely there but I just want to play the game with utmost focus,” she added.

    Talking about the competition level this year, three-time Wrestling World Championship medalist Bajrang Punia said that most of the participants are very talented and would definitely pose a major challenge, “I would play every match like it is the final one,” he said.

    Olympics bronze medalist shooters Yogeshwar Dutt and Gagan Narang had a heart-to-heart conversation with Kapil Dev during the e-conclave. Dutt said with a lot of confidence, “Indian wrestlers are all ready for the tournament and are likely to win at least three medals.”

  • Sony Pictures Networks India acquires media rights in the Indian-subcontinent for World Wrestling Championship 2019

    Sony Pictures Networks India acquires media rights in the Indian-subcontinent for World Wrestling Championship 2019

    Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited (SPN) has acquired media rights comprising of exclusive television broadcast rights and non-exclusive digital transmission rights for the World Wrestling Championship 2019, to be held from September 14 to 22, 2019 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The agreement with Sporty Solutionz, UWW’s Media Rights exclusive partners for the territory, covers television and digital rights in the Indian sub-continent.

    Organized by the United World Wrestling, the 2019 World Championships will be the first qualification event in select categories for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The preliminary rounds will be livestreamed only on SonyLIV. The semi-finals and finals across all the three events – Men’s Freestyle, Greco Roman and Women’s Wrestling – and weight-categories will be telecast daily on SONY TEN 3 SD & HD and SONY ESPN SD & HD channels as well as live streamed on SonyLIV starting from September 14, 2019, until September 22, 2019. All the matches will be aired live in India between 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM IST allowing audiences to watch this prestigious tournament at prime time.

    The UWW World Championships are the amateur wrestling world championships organized by the United World Wrestling. The event features competitions in Men’s Freestyle, Men’s Greco-Roman and Women’s Freestyle tournaments across different weight categories. From India, top wrestlers like Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Sushil Kumar, Vinesh Phogat and many more will aim to rise to the occasion. 

  • Tata Motors launches elite wrestlers development program

    Tata Motors launches elite wrestlers development program

    MUMBAI: After announcing itself as the principal sponsor of the Wrestling Foundation of India (WFI) in August, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles Business Unit  (CVBU) has further extended its support to the sport in an exemplary way by setting up the ‘Tata Motors Elite Wrestlers Development Program’. The official announcement for the same was made, in presence of the topmost players including Olympic medal winners Sushil Kumar and Sakshi Malik, in Mumbai.

    The aim of the Elite program is to promote, encourage, and develop rising Indian wrestlers and prepare them for the Olympic Gold medals. Through this, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicle Business will help nurture an international standard eco system for athlete support to help India create a new success stories at Tokyo 2020 & Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It will support the players with best possible training and coaching facilities, enabled by renowned foreign coaches, support staff, and international exposure.

    The program will appoint top class foreign coaches for both men and women squads, best possible support staff who will work both on the physical and mental development of the athletes and organise premium exposure trips for the elite Indian wrestlers so that they train and hone themselves according to the global training standards. The support staff will include experienced physiotherapists, biomechanics, mental trainers, and nutritionists. In addition, Tata Motors will also provide insurance cover to Indian wrestlers.

    As revealed at the event, this is for the first time in the history of Indian sports, Tata Motors, along with WFI has announced central contracts to a sport other than cricket, assuring guaranteed benefits to Indian wrestlers. The central contracts are annual retainers that will be spread across 150 players as per grades and assure basic annual earnings for the players, through the sport.

    Speaking on the occasion, Tata Motors president, CVBU Girish Wagh mentioned that sports is an important bridge to connect brands with the customers. He said, “Tata Motors, in line with its group’s heritage has constantly looked at encouraging sports and promoting sporting talent across India and overseas. Wrestling as a homegrown sport has definitely grown in popularity and needs further support in enhancing talent. We are strengthening our association with WFI by directing our efforts to promote, train and develop wrestling talent with advance coaching and international sporting experience.”

    He further added, “We hope these initiatives help the Indian team to perform better. Our best wishes to the team for the forthcoming Tokyo 2020 & Paris 2024 Olympic games."

    Commenting on the partnership, Wrestling Federation of India president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh said, " Tata Motors coming on board as Indian wrestling’s development partner will go a long way in creating a strong sporting ecosystem and strengthening our elite program. These facilities will help wrestlers focus fully on themselves and prepare for the toughest tests before winning medals for the country. WFI is grateful for the trust shown in the federation by Tata Motors and strongly believes that this binding and cooperation will eventually help make a strong beginning for wrestling in India.”

    The event further observed the handing over of central contract to five Grade A wrestlers including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Pooja Dhanda, Sushil Kumar, and Sakshi Malik.