A certain Indian sportsman once said, “I found something I love to do and then I found a way to earn a living from it.” This sentiment is echoed in the advice given by Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots, when he says to make a profession out of one’s passion. Now, if that were as easy as Aamir makes it sound, this country would be full of professional cricketers.
However, some individuals have taken this advice pretty seriously. Since sports is an integral part of every youngster’s life, for health or hobby reasons, certain enterprising people in the city have set up establishments to promote the sport that a targeted person is interested in.
Some have even established companies to do so. Five people; Suhail Ahmed, Rohit Kuttappa, I. K. Ponappa, Grammy Award winner, Tanvi Shah and Abhay Shah were bonded by their love for cycling making regular cycling trips to Mahablipuram.
They realised the need to promote the significance of cycling as a sport and went on to start their own company in 2010 called, ‘CRX Sports Ventures’. Suhail Ahmed, who quit his well paying job as an analyst for his venture, says, “CRX is a sports event management company with its area of expertise in cycling.
Unlike the usual event management companies, we don’t just organise an event according to the customers demand. We, on the other hand, build our own product and exclusively conceptualise an event and then invite people or companies to participate. We have tied up with the Tamil Nadu government to organise “Chennai Cycling” and expect 5000 cyclists to participate.”
These youngsters belong to an average age of 26, and have left a cushy career to chase their dreams. “We are all sports enthusiasts and had to do a lot of convincing before we started. Neither of us was actively into business and we are still learning.” To start–up, an out–of–the–box venture is obviously challenging.
Mohammed Waseem, who completed his under graduation in Information Systems Management, had to struggle to start Cricketorium. “It’s an indoor space where we have a cricket pitch with an automatic bowling machine, a snooker table and other indoor sports.
The added feature is our mocktail bar. The space was the first of its kind in the city. I am the first generation businessman in my family and so I naturally faced a lot of challenges. I had to do a lot of convincing at home because it was a challenging project.”
But Waseem is glad that he took the step. “I did it for my passion for the sport and I am glad that I did so. I started in October 2011 and it’s doing pretty well now,” he smiles.
Many professional sportsmen are helping out firms to promote their sports of interest. Aditya Elango, a badminton player from the city, is the Head of Sales and Marketing of Game Point.
He says, “We provide sportspersons from the city with professional management. The passion for sports is the core of our business.
Our ambition is to work towards qualitatively improving the scope of various sports in India. Currently we are working closely with the Tamil Nadu Badminton Association to qualitatively improve the recognition and promotion of badminton in the State.”
