Sahara India's Subrata Roy plans Olympic centre for athletes

NEW DELHI: Be it shooting, hockey, wrestling, boxing or archery, Sahara India has unfailingly extended support to sport. This is in spite of a long association with cricket, where Sahara sponsors the national team, and commitments to the IPL team Pune Warriors.

Out of 81 athletes who participated in the London Olympics , more than 40 got direct financial help from Sahara.

On an average, Sahara has been spending Rs 25 crore on the athletes every year. Now, however, chief Subrata Roy has decided not to channel his financial help through the government-run federations.

Roy is set to open an ‘Olympic centre; at the Amby Valley in a year’s time where athletes can train specifically for the Games at Sahara’s expense.

“We are going to develop world-class infrastructure for all disciplines which will help us to win more medals in Rio. The facility will be able to accommodate 200 athletes,” Roy told TOI in an interview.

He said that Sahara will get the best of coaches for all disciplines and, most importantly , will take care of their expenses for training abroad.

“I was expecting Deepika Kumari to win a medal in archery . But she was not used to the windy conditions at the Lord’s . We want to ensure that in future an athlete like Deepika can leave early to these venues to get acclimatized before the Games,” Roy added.

Five out of six London medallists (Vijay Kumar, Sushil, Kumar, Gagan Narang , Yogeshwar Dutt and MC Mary Kom) have received financial support from the company . “We are not built for power games. We should focus on sports where we will be capable of winning ,” he said.

The hockey debacle, where India finished last, has left Roy sad. “When hockey was played on grass, we were on top of the world. But now, the same game needs speed and strength and we are unable to match the other countries.

“It’s kind of sad but we have to live with it. We can’t even compete in sports like basketball, baseball and football because of lack of speed. Time has come for us to realize where our strength lies and start from there.”

Sahara, though, will continue to support hockey. Roy is confident the IPL-style hockey league will kick off without any hiccups. Sahara has already bought one of the six teams which are supposed to take part in league.

Although Roy is supporting the Indian volleyball team and tennis star Sania Mirza, he is also with the Kolkata football league.

He has plans to start a sports foundation for needy athletes. He is also interested in investing in table tennis and other Olympic sports where India can impress. “In all these disciplines there will be international level coaches , who will be assisting these athletes,” he added.