MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra may have exited the sports broadcast business (for the near term at least) but the Zee Group chairman has not completely de-linked from the game as it were. Taking a leaf out of the Indian Premier League copy book (the ongoing Pro Wrestling League is its national avatar), Zee’s Marathi language movie channel Zee Talkies has announced a franchise based tournament – Maharashtra Kusti League.
The Rajya Sabha MP, alongside Sharad Pawar, head of the Maharashtra Wrestling Federation and president of Nationalist Congress Party, launched the league at an event here Friday.
The tournament will be held from March 9 to 18 with eight teams participating in it. Wrestlers from world over will compete for a prize money of Rs 2.5 million, DNA reports.
“The Kusti league is a great initiative with the platform given by ZEE group. I am confident that wrestlers from different states will get opportunity and support to showcase their talent,” DNA quotes Pawar as having said at the launch function.
The former Maharashtra chief minister also thanked and welcomed Chandra for supporting the sport.
“Maharashtra is my karmabhoomi (work place) and Haryana is my janmabhoomi (birth place), and both the places have wrestling as its traditional sport… Cricket is big in India while our traditional sport have been sidelined. Every state has a regional and traditional sport. I want to bring back them back to the mainstream,” Chandra said.
