Companies making beeline to sign Sindhu for endorsements

August 26, 2016

Hyderabad, Aug 26: Companies are queuing up to sign Rio Olympics silver medalist P V Sindhu for endorsements, but the ace badminton player's brand management firm wants to go slow as it wants her brand valuation to rise further.sindhu

The silver medal at Rio Olympics has pushed Sindhu's brand value many times and the badminton star is expected to announce a couple of endorsement deals soon.

Ramakrishnan R, co-founder and director of Baseline Ventures managing Sindhu's brand marketing, said though the endorsements were signed before Olympics, they did not want to announce them due to hectic schedule of the city-based badminton players for the preparation for the event.

"They are major endorsements at the national level. There have been couple of brand signed before Olympics. We could not announce them because of the Olympics preparation. So, we did not want to promote her more before Olympics. We may be announcing them during the second week of September," Ramakrishnan told PTI.

Baseline, the sports marketing company, also manages another badminton player Srikanth.

Sindhu became the first Indian woman athlete to grab an Olympic silver in the just-concluded event when she lost a close final clash against world No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain.

Harish Bijoor, an expert in brand and business strategy, said post Olympics, Sindhu's brand value has gone up to Rs 2 crore which was fuelled by the cash awards given by various state governments.

"Two or three things have happened post Olympics. One is the cash awards she got by various state governments. Now all these add to the dimension of brand value of Sindhu.

Because the moment a state government gives you Rs 5 crore, it means that the brand value goes much higher," Bijoor said.

"There are people (government and organisations) may be looking at offering money to Sindhu which are substantially larger. So all of a sudden Sindhu's brand value jumps to Rs 2 crore (post Olympics) from under Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh (per Olympics)," he said.

Soon after her win in Olympics, Telangana government felicitated Sindhu with Rs 5 crore cash and a residential plot in Hyderabad. The Andhra government led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu presented her a cash award worth Rs 3 crore.

The AAP government in Delhi has also announced Rs 2 crore for the star badminton player, while public sector oil company BPCL has announced Rs 75 lakh cash. Various organisations have also announced different cash incentives to the player.

Bijoor further said unlike other sporting events, the win in Olympics will remain fresh in people's memory for more time and Sindhu will enjoy her brand image at the current levels till then.

"We are pouring with requests for endorsements by Sindhu. That is not what we think would be credible and grand association. We want to last long. Building brand takes years. So want to start slowly and add value to Sindhu which is very important. And also Sindhu is excited to work with us. Our intention is the brand valuation of Sindhu to go up," he further said.

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News Network
April 25,2020

New Delhi, Apr 25: The love and loyalty of the fans will never let him leave Royal Challengers Bangalore till the time he is playing IPL, skipper Virat Kohli said on Friday.

RCB have reached the IPL final thrice but have not gone on to win the trophy.

During a live session on Instagram with former South African captain and RCB teammate AB de Villiers, Kohli said winning the tournament remains the goal but he would not leave the team irrespective of the results.

"It has been such an amazing journey. It is always going to be our dream, winning the IPL together. There is no scenario where I could think of leaving the team ever.

"You can feel emotional about the season not going well but till the time I am playing IPL, I am never leaving this team. The fans, their loyalty has been amazing," said the India skipper.

Responding to Kohli's feelings towards RCB, De Villiers too acknowledged the support of fans over the past nine years. Kohli, on the other hand, has been with RCB since 2008.

"Same for me. I never want to leave RCB but to do that I got to keep scoring runs. I am not the captain you see," said the South African in jest.

Both recalled their early days in international cricket and their growth as cricketers and friends.

Kohli said at times, the youngsters coming in have too much regard for the "system" and he wants to see them break the norm.

"I want to see youngsters coming in scoring 500-600 runs. I want people to break the norm. Sometimes I feel people have too much regard for the system in sport. When you break the shackles, you do something special."

Kohli also acknowledged contribution of Mark Boucher, Gary Kirsten and Duncan Fletcher early on in his international career.

"Gary always gave me positive feedback. Boucher told me in 2008 to improve my game against the short ball. He had the vision. Then Fletcher, he had a keen eye for the game. So many people who have contributed (to my growth)," said Kohli.

De Villiers picked the 119 at Wankhede in the 2015 series decider as his best knock against India. Kohli picked the 119 he scored in Johannesburg Test in 2013.

"I was always really motivated to win the series after 2-2 . I was incredibly motivated to do something special," de Villiers said.

They also picked their combined South Africa and India ODI team. It included Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ab de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, M S Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dale Steyn, Jasprit Bumrah and Kagiso Rabada.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Jan 10: Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s prized 'baggy green' cap raised more than A$1 million ($686,000) on Friday for bushfire relief efforts after the former leg-spinner donated it for auction.

Twenty-seven people have been killed and thousands made homeless in recent months as huge fires scorched through more than 25.5 million acres of land, an area the size of South Korea.

The baggy green is presented to Australian players when they make their Test debut and they receive just one for their entire career. The Aussie cricketer donated the cap to an online auction site on Monday. The auction closed at 10 a.m. on Friday (2300 GMT Thursday) with a final public bid of A$1,007,500.

"Unbelievable … so generous from everyone. Totally blown away," Warne said on Twitter shortly before the auction closed.

The auction attracted global interest and the price eclipsed the A$425,000 achieved by the late Don Bradman's baggy green when it was sold in 2003.

"We have been overwhelmed and it is a fantastic result," Marc Cheah, head of marketing for auctioneers Pickles, said.

"Other baggy greens have been auctioned and Don Bradman’s got $425,000 about 15 years ago, but the Don is the Don. He’s the greatest cricketer that ever lived," Cheah said in relation to the widely held recognition Bradman was the best batsman the game has produced.

"But Shane is also right up there and that drove a lot of traffic and momentum, while the cause is also very worthwhile."

Warne, 50, is one of many local and international athletes to support the fundraising for bushfire victims with several cricketers promising to donate a sum based on the number of sixes they hit in Australia’s Big Bash Twenty20 competition.

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