Sports infrastructure company TransStadia today signed a 10-year agreement with Association of Indian Universities to promote and popularise seven sports in the country at the college and university level.
As a part of the agreement, TransStadia will create a new competition structure and redefine and increase athlete and spectator participation in seven sports -- basketball, athletics, badminton, volleyball, football, tennis and boxing.
This arrangement will work as a feeder system to the elite level and in-turn create a large pool of sportspersons.
"With 574 Universities, 35,539 colleges, and 20.3 million students, India's sporting future is clearly present within this eco-system. Taking forward the initiative to emulate the popular Collegiate Sports format prevalent globally -- Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and TransStadia have signed a 10-year Alliance Agreement to re-structure and popularize this sports eco-system," a release said.
"This agreement will make way to ensure that India's college going youth get an opportunity to compete at the highest level and bridge the gap between school sports and professional sports," it added.
It said the agreement would aim to discover, nurture and promote young hopefuls and provide national and international exposure.
"AIU has been conducting national and zonal University Games in numerous sporting disciplines. TransStadia along with AIU aims to give further impetus to the spirit of education through sport. It is a platform for aspiring young sporting talent to prove their mettle."
Speaking on the development, TransStadia's Managing Director Udit Sheth said, "India has over 400,000 student athletes. Imagine if at least 2% of them turn pro; then India at any given time will have an additional 8000 high-performing athletes across sports.
"We want to expand this base to create a sports industry at the collegiate level and create sports as a career opportunity. We would also impress upon every athlete to pursue education.
