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India’s aspiration to excel in Olympic sports has received a tremendous fillip on the sponsorship front. Several brands have come forward with lucrative proposals to sponsor Indian athletes for the forthcoming Paris Olympics scheduled to be held from July 26 to August 11 this year. It is learnt that the Indian Olympic contingent has already attracted INR 50 crore in sponsorship deals, which is nearly double the amount that it had received during the Tokyo Olympics four years ago. Moreover, sponsorship for the Indian Olympic contingent has recorded a whopping 2000 per cent rise if one considers the sponsorship amount before the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Indian contingent got merely two to three crore from sponsors back then. However, as Indian sportspersons have started performing well at the biggest sporting extravaganza in the world, various reputed firms have come forward with sponsorship offers. Such sponsorships not only help business houses expand their business, but will also help Indian medal-prospects to train and perform well in the Olympics as well as other international sporting events.
There can be no better news for weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain or tennis player Manika Batra among others as they received very little to no encouragement in their journey towards the top as much of the focus was on India’s favourite sport, Cricket. More often than not, they were left to fend for themselves as sporting associations were in no position to help them financially or otherwise. The majority of sportspersons who have taken up any Olympic sport have had to run from pillar to post to arrange funds to participate in international meets or buy modern equipment necessary to improve their performance. Major sporting talents including the greats like P. T. Usha, Kunjarani Devi and many others faced such challenges. Before every international event, they had to request for funds either from the government or from other sources. Until recently, they didn’t even think of going abroad to train under the guidance of experienced foreign coaches.
Things have started changing since the last few decades as Indian athletes have started performing well on the international stage. It may be mentioned here that till the Tokyo Olympics, India couldn’t manage to win a single Gold in track and field events at the Olympics. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra ended the drought in Tokyo, while Abhinav Bindra won the first Gold medal for India at the Olympics in Beijing. Apart from them, India has a number of other silver and bronze medal winners in different olympic disciplines. Badminton star P. V. Sindhu and wrestler Sushil Kumar have even won medals in consecutive Olympics. It is hoped that the Indian contingent which will represent the country in Paris will make the country proud as they have already achieved the impossible by attracting the Reliance Foundation, JSW and Adidas among others from the cricketing arena to sponsor Olympic sports in the country. Now, it will be relatively easy for Indian athletes to scale other Olympic peaks.