AHMEDABAD: The Adani Group has become an official partner of the Indian Olympics Contingent at the Tokyo Olympics, which opens on 23 July 2021. The Indian lineup in Tokyo includes 119 athletes, India’s highest ever total at the Olympic Games.
The Olympic partnership is in line with the Adani Group’s belief that corporate support for the nation’s sporting ecosystem will build a better and stronger sporting future.
Garv Hai, the Adani Group’s long-term incubation programme to identify and nurture India’s sporting champions of the future, was rolled out in 2019 after completing a four-year pilot project launched before the Rio Olympics in 2015.
Athletes of great promise were selected for the Garv Hai programme. In the past, the illustrious list of champions supported by the Adani Group have included boxers Shiva Thapa, Mandeep Jangra and Pinki Rani, shot putter Inderjeet Singh, race walker Khushbir Kaur, long distance runner Sanjeevani Jadhav and shooter Malaika Goel.
Ten junior and nine senior athletes were nurtured under the Garv Hai initiative, of which seven qualified for the Tokyo 2020. Every one of the seven Garv Hai athletes is a great story of talent, determination and effort combining to overcome challenges, setbacks and hardship.
Pranav Adani, MD – Agro, Oil & Gas, said, “I am proud of these athletes who are representing our nation on the world’s greatest sporting stage. The courage, commitment and conviction they have shown to reach this height of excellence already make them winners. Their heroic journeys inspire us as a nation. I wish them the very best, and we, as one nation, will always be proud of them no matter the outcome.”
The Group has now further strengthened its commitment to the nation’s sporting talent by becoming the official partner of the Indian Olympic Association and also the official partner of the Indian contingent to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
The Olympians in the Garv Hai initiative
Ankita Raina of Gujarat was fascinated by the sport of tennis from an early age of five years. Today she is India’s top-ranking tennis player. It was in 2016 that she associated with the Adani Group.
Rani Rampal from Haryana’s Shahbad will be leading India’s women’s hockey team. Through her grit determination Rani has broken all barriers which restricted women from the world of sports.
Arjun Awardee pugilist Amit Panghal’s family is a personification of the clarion call given by the late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’. His elder brother is in the Indian Army and his father is associated with farming while Panghal represents the nation’s boxing might. Amit weighs 52 kg. He won a silver medal at the World Boxing Championship 2019, a gold medal at the Asian Championship 2019 and a silver medal at the Asian Championships 2021.
Kerala’s K T Irfan, who gained fame in race walking, qualified to represent India at the Tokyo Olympics. K T Irfan won a Bronze medal at the Asian Racewalking Championship 2017.
Deepak Punia, a Naib Subedar with the Indian Army, is a renowned freestyle wrestler. He weighs 86 kg. He won a silver medal at the World Wrestling Championship 2019 and a gold medal at the World Junior Wrestling Championship 2019
Shivpal Singh, India’s top javelin thrower, is confident of his chances at the Tokyo Olympics. He won a gold medal at the World Military Games 2019 and a silver medal at the Asian Athletics Championship 2019.
Freestyle wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya currently ranks third in the world in the 57 kg weight category. He won a bronze medal at the World Championship 2019 and two gold medals at the Asian Championship in 2019 and 2021.
Adani Group is a diversified Indian infrastructure conglomerate with a market cap of over $89 Bn (as on 21 July 2021) comprising six publicly traded companies. It has created a world class infrastructure portfolio with a pan-India presence. The Adani Group is headquartered in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, India. Over the years, the Adani Group has grown to be the market leader in the large scale infrastructure sector with O & M practices benchmarked to global standards. With four IG rated businesses, it is the only Infrastructure Investment Grade issuer in India.
The Adani Group owes its success and leadership position to its core philosophy of Nation Building driven by Growth with Goodness – a guiding principle for sustainable growth. The Group is committed to ESG goals by realigning its businesses with growing emphasis on climate protection and increasing community outreach through its CSR programmes based on the principles of sustainability, diversity and shared values.
