AHMEDABAD: The Adani Group announced its long-term initiative to discover and nurture world-class athletes for India. Garv Hai, named after the group’s pilot project built around the Rio Olympics 2016, is a nationwide programme that aims to reach out and empower stakeholders in the sports fraternity.
As of May 15th, Garv Hai has started receiving applications from athletes, coaches, sports academies, etc. across multiple sports. The exercise spanning across 29 states, 100 cities and catering to up to 5,000 entries aims to handpick 15+ potential athletes. Till date, the initiative has received over 3,000 entries.
“India is witnessing an unprecedented upsurge in sports sentiments. While the government has rolled out several new opportunities for potential sportspersons, as a responsible corporate we feel it is our national duty to extend our arms and bolster the changing narrative. With Garv Hai, we want to stand by budding sport stars, become a part of their journey and celebrate their glory. Aligned with the Adani Group’s core philosophy of nation building and Growth with Goodness we have strategic plans to explore new opportunities in the sports sector,” said Pranav Adani, director, Adani Enterprises Ltd.
Garv Hai offers sportspersons aged above 14 years an opportunity to plan a career in individual sports. Aspirants however, would undergo a stringent process including a grading system based on previous achievements followed by qualitative and quantitative feedback by Anglian Medal Hunt, which is a sports management agency which specializes in conducting grassroots talent scouting programmes.
The selected candidates would get significant training aid to pursue their dream. The long-term incubation programme aims to groom two set of athletes, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 / 2022 Asian and Commonwealth Games probable and junior athletes for the future.
The list of sports to be supported includes archery, athletics, boxing, shooting and wrestling.
Beneficiaries of the Garv Hai pilot project in 2016 includes role models such as Ankita Raina, (tennis), Pinki Rani (Boxing), Sanjeevani Jadhav (Athletics), Maliaka Goel (shooting), Mandeep Jangra (boxing), Inderjeet Singh (athletics), Khushbir Kaur, (athletics), Shiva Thapa (boxing).
