India Sports Expo 2014
For the first time ever, India hosted the sports expo in the capital recently. The India Sports Expo 2014 saw international and national sports companies come together under one roof to provide an opportunity for traders and consumers alike to be able to buy everything ‘sports’, from apparels to equipments, from the well-known brands in market to newly introduced ones, the sports expo had it all.
Some of the major brands present were-
Victor (The Badminton Equipment Manufacturer whose brand ambassador is Ashwini Ponnappa).
Spartan (Multi-Sport Equipment Manufacturer with brand ambassadors like MS Dhoni, Micheal Clark and Chris Gayle).
Shiv Naresh Sports Pvt. Ltd (One of the Pioneers kit suppliers of the country, designing kits for Indian Wrestling Team, Indian Cricket Team, Indian Hockey Team etc.).They were one of the major supports of the recent Bio-pic movie, Mary Kom.
Spartan Sports at India Sports Expo 2014
Speaking on the occasion, the organiser from FICCI mentioned to us about how this expo began, “We wanted to start with an expo that is completely dedicated to the field of sports and that’s how we started to work for this India Sports Expo 2014. So, we took an initiative along with the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affair, Sports Authority of India and FICCI.”
Adding to it further, they mentioned, “The expo is B2B for now and the turn-up has been really amazing. It was for three days- 6th, 7th and 8th of November and we hope that next time we would grow much bigger. The challenging and exciting part about this exhibition was to get all these exhibitors under one roof. We also wanted to give a lively experience to the visitors and thus organised a rock performance plus zumba dance and much more. I would say every sports lover would get everything right here at one place.”
Variety of flags under one roof at the India Sports Expo 2014
“Spartan sports are pre-dominantly a sports company which provides all the equipment required for any sports. Since cricket has become a global craze we have started sponsoring cricket stars like Ms Dhoni (India’s captain), Michael Clark (Australian Captain) and Chris Gayle (West Indies Captain). This is my fourth or fifth visit to India; however, it is my first visit to a Sports Expo. The experience has been really fantastic. One cannot miss any of the stores here; however I would want the visitors to spend a little more time with us at Spartan.” Said Cameron Merchant, Spartan Sports.
Other than equipment, there were companies that provided sports flooring. We had an opportunity to speak with one such infrastructure developer, who briefed us about their product and informed that one get two types of flooring- indoor and outdoor. Outdoor floorings are in synthetic forms and indoor comes in Vinyl forms.
Sports flooring available at the expo
“We are mainly into apparels and sports infrastructure. Recently, we had an association with IOA, which gave us opportunity to be the official apparel partner for events like Glasgow, Asian games etc. In terms of Indian brands, Shiv Naresh has been one of the big players in the sports arena. We want to promote the culture of sports in India. We are official partners of big Football Houses, Hockey India and Athletic federation of India and also we have supported movies like ‘Mary Kom’ and are looking forward for such associations in the future as well. I believe if we all, even media, promote sports and players then it the condition of sports will improve rapidly in India.” Said Sujoy Banerjee, Shiv Naresh Sports Pvt. Ltd.
The Victor stand was a major attraction as it had all the Badminton Equipment you could imagine, we had an integration with Yvonne Chou, Victor Rackets.
At the Shiv Naresh Store, we talked to Sujoy Banerjee.
“One of the largest badminton brands in the world, Victor is based in Taiwan and it has established branches all over the world with distributions in over 200 countries. We see a good growth prospect in India and are seeking more opportunities. Floor, net, shoes, apparels, racket etc. are exclusively designed for the badminton game. The rackets are available without the strings and we also have a stringing machine which enables to design rackets according to the player’s requirement. However, this machine is only for traders.” Said Yvonne Chou, Victor Rackets IND. CORP.
The expo is indeed an experience not be missed by any sports lover. Not only one has the opportunity to purchase the right equipment from their favorite brand but also you get an opportunity to get information about training for any sports, specific diets to be taken, various coaching centres etc. Even if you are not into sports their flag collection in itself is a must visit, as you can find flags of over 210 countries, Common Wealth games, Cricket T20, IPL Cricket League, Football teams, Basketball teams etc.
It is an excellent initiative for the welfare of sports and is a must visit the next time it comes around.
Picture Courtesy : Neel Kamal, OneWorldNews
