December 19, 2012, Mumbai: KOOH Sports is a company promoted by a group of successful entrepreneurs and corporate professionals with TCS and HDFC as its shareholders. The company is engaged in the business of sports promotion and education in India. KOOH Sports today launched a first of its kind initiative called “SpeedStar”, a talent hunt, to identify the fastest 100-meter running under 12, under 14 and under 16 years old child in India. PT Usha, an Olympian and a member of the newly elected advisory panel of the Indian Olympic Association, will be instrumental in driving and promoting this initiative across India along with KOOH Sports.

• A first of its kind initiative to track India’s fastest and youngest running sensation for a 100 meter sprint
• Announces PT Usha as brand ambassador

Adille Sumariwalla, President(AFI); P.T. Usha, Speedstar brand ambassador; Susir Kumar, Founder & Chairman, KOOH Sports; Patrick Kearins, Austrade

In its first edition ‘SpeedStar’ will be rolled out in 11 locations– Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Sonepat – spreading its reach to identify the fastest kids in the country. Designed to motivate kids and encourage schools to partake in athletics, the ‘SpeedStar’ initiative is a movement to generate interest and awareness for the most natural form of sport – Running. The initiative is expected to touch 600 schools and over 20,000 children across the country.

The final winners from each city will strike it out for the finale to be held on February 10, 2013 in New Delhi.

Talking on the initiative, Mr. Susir Kumar, Founder and Chairman, KOOH Sports said, “At KOOH Sports, we are committed to raise the stature of sports in the country and adopt initiatives at a grass root level to promote it. The launch of SpeedStar is aligned to raise the bar of sports education in India, and we are confident that our attempt to help kids adopt athletics early on, within the realm of sports education in the country, will be successful.”

Ms. P.T. Usha, the brand ambassador for SpeedStar said, “I am very happy to be associated with KOOH Sports – a credible organization dedicated to promote sports in the country. The broad-based adoption of athletics – the foundation for all sports – is an imperative to churn out meaningful sportspersons for the country at a young and appropriate age. It is an honour to be associated with SpeedStar and I am confident that this initiative will help produce the fastest and youngest Indian athletes.”

Mr. Adille Sumariwalla, President, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said, “KOOH Sports enabled SpeedStar is a bold new initiative that will give an impetus to drive athletics with Indian kids. It is indeed commendable to witness the much needed private participation in the sector that will ultimately shape the fabric of sports in the country.”

Mr. Patrick Kearins, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Austrade, remarked, “The performance of the Indian athletes at the Olympics has improved considerably with Indian sportsmen getting individual medals for the country. The Australian Federation is delighted to partner with KOOH Sports and offer Indian children intensive training in Australia under the aegis of expert coaches. We are happy to extend our support to the ‘SpeedStar’ initiative and foster co-operation in the field of sports education.”

With registrations currently underway, SpeedStar will commence its journey to different Indian cities starting January 5, 2013, culminating with the grand finale on February 10, 2013.  To extend its outreach to rural and semi-urban India, KOOH Sports has also collaborated with Coca-Cola India under the aegis of ‘Support My School’ program.

KOOH Sports is keen to create a movement of fitness & sports in the country to integrate sports as a way of life for kids and also develop the future stars of the country. In line with its vision to penetrate the grass root levels of the physical education program in schools, KOOH Sports is dauntlessly working to bring a shift in the dominant outlook towards it.

The team at KOOH Sports spent over a year post its inception to develop a blue print to launch a series of programs that generate interest towards sports and provides a professional platform to identify and nurture talent. Having steadily grown since its inception in June 2010, KOOH Sports has currently reached out to 15,000 children throughout the country and plans to add over 1, 25,000 children over the next three years.

About KOOH Sports:

KOOH Sports was set up in June 2010 with a mission to rekindle love for physical sports instead of virtual sports. Started by a set of experienced individuals drawn from various industries and backed by funding from India’s leading corporate houses (TCS and HDFC), the underlying objective of KOOH Sports is to improve the condition of sports in the country.

KOOH Sports delivers professional sports training and coaching programs of international standards to schools, making sports a viable career option. It has a panel of in-house experts who design, conceptualize and execute age appropriate physical education programs along with state-of-the-art equipments & infrastructure and physical assessment reports. It also offers unique fun-activities to draw people to the field of play with their colleagues, peers, friends and family.

The service offerings provided by KOOH Sports are unique in the Indian context and have been time tested in the global arena. With experienced sports luminaries like Mr. Ajit Wadekar and Mr. John Gloster on its panel, KOOH Sports is enthusiastic to transform the fabric of delivering professional sports training in the country.

Tags: AFI, Athletics Federation of India, HDFC, KOOH Sports, PT Usha, SpeedStar, TCS