The latest entrants into the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), Veer Marathas have arrived as a fresh breath of air, with the owners vowing to pump back into the sport every penny they raise from the championship, including all the sponsorship money.
Co-owner Ranjit Saxena announced this during the team's logo launch on Friday in the presence of all its owners, its players for the third edition and Aditya Thackeray, the Shiv Sena scion and an ardent supporter of the sport in Maharashtra.
"Maharashtra is a natural home for wrestling. Our first international champions have come from here," he said.
"We want to take the sport back to its former glory," he added.
India's first individual medal winner in the Olympics Games, K.D. Jadhav, in fact was born in Goleshwar, Maharasthra.
Ravi Jain, another co-owner, underlining his vision for the sport, said the Veer Marathas would set up wrestling academies in places like Sholapur and Aurangabad that have a well-known affinity to wrestling.
"We are delighted to be part of the Marathas," the team's champion player Praveen Rana said.
"We are also grateful to have such gracious owners, who have come into the sport to promote it, rather than for any commercial reasons," he added.
Saxena pointed out that wrestling is not only India's natural sport but also the sport in which the country is winning the most medals at the Olympics and international level.
"We all need to give everything we can to wrestling. That's the only way we can become a major power in the sport," he said.
--IANS
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