 I would like to request and invite on stage our keynote speaker of today, Mrs. Vita Dhani, co-owner for Chenayin FC and UTT. She will be speaking on the topic, the rise of challenges of non-cricket sports in India. Quite a hot topic today this morning. Ms. Vita Dhani is the co-owner of Chenayin Football Club and the chairperson of the Ultimate Trade Tennis. She is also the co-founder of Dhani Foundation with support initiatives such as ELMS Sports, Foundation Annamrata, Project Mumbai and Kapadwanch Kevlani Mandal. That focuses on achieving sustainable development goals. So we welcome her with a round of applause on stage and let's now tune in to her address. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome with a round of applause, Ms. Vita Dhani. Welcome you, a very good morning to each and every one of you attending this sports marketing conclave today and thank you to exchange for media and group M for inviting me here today. It's a great honor. Victor Hugo said that you cannot stop anyone whose time has come and I think India's time has come. There is no better time than now to hold a congregation like this and I'm sure all of you will benefit from the different sessions that are going to be held today. India accounts for almost 18% of world's population. We consume almost everything here in equal measure, goods and services, religion and tradition, entertainment and fantasy and cricket in India brings two of these together. It is the national entertainment and also for some it's a religion. However, India is a country of many religions and in the same way it's also a country of many sports. This is because even in the tiniest and the coldest and the smallest and the hottest place everybody is passionate about cricket but I think slowly this is changing. To me, more than any other social, cultural activity, literature, music, film, it is only sport that's the greatest unifier. So we are at that inflection point right now and as I begin my address to all of you here today I'd like to acknowledge that only a collaborative effort at the grass root level and at the help of media, central and the state governments, corporate sponsors and broadcasters that is going to launch the Indian sport to its next phase. So as we go from the 75th to the 100th year of our independent India, we will see a golden period where we will see affordable health care, fitness in daily routine in young India and also in the aging population. Surely sports and fitness will improve the health of our nation and we need to ensure that we are not the diabetic capital of the world. Our Olympic contingent gave us seven medals in 2021 and honestly I think it's only the starting point. I mean it's going to take a while as Pulela rightly said, it's not a short term aim. It takes ten years for any player to really mature and be all there. So it's the potential of young people of India, the tech savvy, the passionately young India that wants to give back to the society. And what will make a difference in the coming 25 years from any other Indian era or any other country of the world is how we do in the next 25 years. India will host the IOC session in 2023 and this honour has come again to us for the second time after almost 39 years and the recent announcement made by the honourable sports minister on India's bid to host the Olympic Games has delighted me. So that is, I don't think any other time, better time than to host it now. The Olympic Games are not only about building physical infrastructure but it's also identifying talent from rural India, from the real grassroots all across the country and it's all about encouraging people to play one or multiple sports. It's about accessing the remotest place of India, whether we eat in Kashmir or maybe 120 odd aspirational districts of India. We don't know where the next champion is going to come from, whether he's going to be from Haryana, whether he's going to be from Kashmir, whether he's going to be from Jharkhand, from northeast or maybe a Tanjavur district in Tamil Nadu. So I truly believe that sport has the power to amalgamate the diversity of India and integrate India and Bharat. As an Indian athlete, a championing for global dominance, the honourable prime minister's love for sport and its stakeholders is a huge boost for everyone as you've heard it in the earlier session, you know, and it definitely trickles down the entire vertical, you know, everybody gets serious about it. So the Kalo India program stands a testament to Modi's love for commitment and support for sport. In the last five years, India has hosted maximum number of global sporting events including the historic chess olympiad in Chennai, which witnessed the participation of 187 countries. And I'm sure this can be replicated in many other sports. So if you look at hockey, the World Cup is currently ongoing in Odisha. International athletes and sports associations enjoy coming to India. And I'm glad that we have successfully embodied the sense of Atiti Devo Bhava as part of our sports initiative. When India gets fit, it means we will need many more equipment of world-class standards and safety. This will ensure the Indian manufacturing industry will witness a huge growth. It will, it can make, you know, we can make products in India at competitive cost and of international quality. Indian brands can serve not only to the budding athletes from our country but also from the rest of the world. And we need to keep in mind the national education policy that allows students to pursue passion both in academic subjects as well as in other laterals of sports. And this will lead to job creation as sports administrators, in media, in even management as part of the entire sporting landscape. The average age of today's India is 29 years. And in these 29 years old, who can use the data available to develop digital solutions not only for India but also for rest of the world. We will need public-private partnerships to maintain and monetize the infrastructure in sports. We can measure progress based on diversity and inclusion. And diversity includes participation of the young or even differently abled. And data shows how well we as a country have done in para-sports. We have actually got more medals in para-sports than in regular sports just to really, when you deep dive into this data. And inclusion and diversity has become part of the mainstream. This will increase the number of consumers. It will also more sponsors will come in as there is more consumption. Today, I don't think there is enough CSR money coming into sports. But CSR contribution can go up if we see value-based self-development. Be it in grassroots or elite sports, philanthropy can keep medal prospects and pursuits. And this lays emphasis on the importance of sports science and medicine. Sport not only develops leadership qualities but also keeps people fit. And here, we cannot miss the contribution and achievement of women. Once again, data shows that women have won more medals for our country. Be it PV Sindhu for badminton or Manika Bhattra for table tennis. As key members of Athlete Commission, Lovlina Burgoyan for boxing, women are also playing a role in defining the course of sports globally. Of course, you would have seen Mary Com, P.T. Usha. I mean, this list can go on and on and on. So India's appetite for multi-sport event is clear with the Olympics, the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, as well as as multiple sport leagues that have peaked the interest of not only sport fans but also brand marketeers. And as fans chose their sports, brands have also chosen or identified different sports that they'd like to support and be associated with. One such story is also of Apollo Tires and football. I'm not sure if Vikram Garga is still here or not, but if he's here, he will perhaps share his story that of Apollo Tires and Chennai Football Club, which is now in six years of association. As per CII and KPMG report, sponsorship of values have seen 300% rise in Kabadi, 92% in football and 53% in marathon. In fact, I was there at the Mumbai Marathon just last weekend. I mean, even Pulela was there and I'm sure some of you were there as well. And the number of people that showed up at that hour in the morning, I think it was a telling sign and it was a mass participation, I think it was a mass celebration if I may put it. So then a number of sporting leagues have followed suits after the advent of IPL in 2008. Sporting leagues inject the ecosystem of sports with professionalism, exposure, competitiveness and economic boost. And as speaking of such leagues, you may have noticed the ultimate table tennis zone as you walked in here to play. And well, if you haven't seen, then surely we have not done a good job. So when my team and I conceptualize ultimate table tennis a few years ago, the idea was exactly to do the same for Indian table tennis. The starting point was to make noise and boost fanfare around the sport rather than focusing just on economics. But of course, having said that, we really run our league in a very economically, what should I say, cost effective manner. And in order to encourage participation not only from the franchisees but also from the broadcasters and brands. So our primary objective is to bring world-class table tennis action to India on regular basis and familiarize Indian paddlers to sport fans in our country. If numbers are anything to do with that, UTT has seen equal participation from men and women. Also, the ultimate table tennis in its three years has also witnessed a healthy split of terms viewership across urban and rural India. And also now globally because we stream our league across the world in different time zones. And now with coming in with 5G, leagues such as UTT will only attract more eyeballs. Of course, we are very excited with the new Viacom strategy and I'm sure many more will follow. So everybody from star, I hope you all are listening. We must pay special heed to a fantastic broadcasters that believe in sport for its growth. I mean, if broadcasters did not believe in the power of such leagues, we have never seen an indigenous sport like Kabadi go through such an exponential rise that it has in last few years. We have over 840 million internet users. We have 800 million people using smartphones, 210 million household consuming content on television. And thereby there's a huge platform available to build brands. And while brands have already begun realizing the potential of sports marketing, eSports is a big part of the future. Here we have to target the five to 10 year old kids and data available has democratized access to this young India. We can be leaders or pioneers in these emerging areas. And here I'm happy to report that Channa and FC's eSports team became the inaugural champions of the first ESL conducted last year. In order to become, thank you, in order to become global sporting powerhouse, we must have a holistic outlook towards growing its ecosystem. And that means starting right at the bottom. At grassroots level. And I can speak from experience in case of Channa and FC, where nine year old football club has won Hero ISL twice already. And now we are working and building on our grassroots program. So we have four youth teams. And that means about 120 children that love football play professionally on daily basis just in our district, in our city. We also have 18 soccer school tie ups across Tamil Nadu. And that creates an ecosystem for over thousands of children that play regularly. We have also begun training two girls team that's under 13 and under 15 level. And all these efforts are aimed to be able to feed first team that operates in the Indian Super League. Our efforts at N's foundation on the other hand are helping one lakh children across the country to ensure that they have right to play by our project Chalang, where of course we work under the guidance of Phulella once again. And this reflects appropriately what we as a multi-spot organization value the most. It's capacity building and grassroots development. Sports is nothing without fans. And it is essential for broadcasters sports team and league to ensure uphold fan experience whether it's on OTT or it's on TV. Whether it is in stadium or it's on digital media platforms. My team at Chennai NFC is working extremely hard on creating this experience for clubs fans. If you follow our social handle, I'm sure you will agree that we are ahead of the curve. Our relationship with our fans and fan clubs has ensured outreach across the city of Chennai and beyond. It is important for all stakeholders in Indian sport to pay heed to demands of Indian sport fans to ensure that we are able to create world-class sporting experience for them and keep this appetite growing within India. And all this means is that we need to create an enabling ecosystem. This is not only a responsibility but I think this is a great opportunity for all of us in the room. I'd like to close by saying that my dream is to see 300 million children play sport in school, supporting the government through policy, creating an environment for sport to thrive and succeed. And kudos to states like Uttar Pradesh for coming out in support of wrestling. Odisha for hockey. States like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh who have set up high performance facilities as well. And everyone is playing their part and soon we will bear the fruits. So from Azadika Amrith Mahatsov to Amrith Kaal, India has to succeed. It is the partnership between citizens, corporates, private institutions, and the government that will determine the cause. So the growth story for sport in India is at its first chapter and there is a book to be written. And everyone here today is an active contributor to that novel. And that's India, a sporting superpower. So let's play. Thank you. Thank you with our token of appreciation. Thank you so much for joining us here today and sharing your thoughts. Thank you so much.