We didn't anticipate winning medals in such a short time, says IIS Founder Parth Jindal
There are many businessmen who have a stake in India's fast-growing sports industry, but a very few with as varied a portfolio as that of Parth Jindal, founder and director of JSW Sports. A sports aficionado, Jindal says he is into it for a dream — a dream to see India becoming a force in the world of sport. Delhi Capitals may be the shiniest of all assets in his possession, but it is the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) in Bellary, Karnataka, that is his favourite. The sprawling 42-acre facility is an example of personal initiative and collective growth. With the help of over 30 corporates, the facility, in just seven years of its existence, has helped produce multiple champions in Olympic sports. Jindal, founder of IIS, spoke with AMIT CHAUDHARY about his vision, the challenges of securing corporate funding, CSR, looking beyond medals, and more. Excerpts:
What was the vision when you decided to start this centre? How has that vision evolved over the years?
The vision was to be the preeminent high-performance centre in India for Olympic sports, to work at the grassroots level and create Olympians who can win medals for the country across five sports disciplines — boxing, wrestling, judo, track and field and swimming.
We started supporting athletes from 2012 and started building this centre in 2014. Obviously our first medal was Sakshi Malik in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and then Neeraj [Chopra] and Bajrang [Punia] in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
We did not anticipate that in such a short period of time we would be
