Understanding the importance of sports culture in India, the former BCCI president and captain of the Indian cricket team, Sourabh Ganguly, has stretched his hands to take the Indian Racing Festival to another level. India’s one of the major premier motorsport events is prepared to host the third season in 2024 with fanfare, as the very popular personality of sports in India will have a stake in it. In order to boost the ecosystem of sports culture in India, Mr. Ganguly has stepped forward to take ownership of the Kolkata Royal Tigers Racing Team.
Akhilesh Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director of Racing Promotions Pvt. Ltd. (RPPL), is credited with bringing about and conceptualizing the events for years. RPPL is basically organizing two major championships, such as the Indian Racing League (IRL) and the Formula 4 Indian Championship (F4IC). The team is named after eight major cities in India, such as Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Kochi, and Ahmadabad. These major teams will compete with each other from August 2024 to November 2024. The event is conceptualized to give a thrilling romance to the audience of motorsports.
Sourabh Ganguly is known to have a Midas touch, and expectations are snowballing that he will create awareness and bring excitement and thrill to the motorsports game. If his successful cricketing career gets replaced here in motorsports, it will be the beginning of a new chapter in motorsports in India. While expressing his views on motorsports, he said, “I am going to follow my passion for motorsports, which has been ingrained in me since my childhood, but I have never gotten the opportunity to get associated with it. I urge people to come and support motorsports in India like they did in the past in cricket. It will help us foster a culture of sports in India, which is the need of the hour."
(Update: 11 July)
John Abraham, a popular Bollywood actor, is well known for his passion for motorsports. Now, coming forward from the center stage of the glamour world to the racing world is quite gratifying and fulfilling for him. He has become the owner of Goa Aces by JA Racing for the Indian Racing Festival 2024. His ownership is entitled to bring glamour and excitement to the racing sports in India. His popularity will help make the event popular in India. Moreover, the IRF itself promises to make the event bigger and better, and his ownership of the Goa franchise is on the right track to make it popular among the people of India towards the sports other than cricket.
Expressing his happiness over the ownership of the Goa franchise, he says, “We are going to unlock the immense potential of sports in Goa. Our efforts will bring the best result out of it. We are sure Goa will become a hub of motorsports in the future." He further adds, “I have always been attracted by fast cars and bikes. I wanted to be the part of motorsports.”
However, another popular actor of Bollywood, Arjun Kapoor, has also joined the motorsports by owning a Delhi team known as Speed Demons. A night race will be organized on the streets of Chennai, which will mark it a special event for the very first time in Indian history of motorsports.
Update: (21st August)
Now moving further to make the event remarkably successful, another famous actor, Akhineni Naga Chaitanya, is all set to play a role of ownership by owning the Hyderabad Blackbirds in the Indian Racing Festival. He exclaims, “He has always been a sports enthusiast, and he loves watching Formula 1 races."
The Hyderabad Blackbirds are one of the six city teams competing with each other for the number one position of the tournament. It will surely present an opportunity for Chaitanya to channelize his passion in the right way to mark his presence felt for the eventful and remarkable racing event in India.
Why India Needs a Strong Robust Sports Culture?
India needs a strong and robust sports culture because it is essential for the holistic advancement of a nation. It enhances the health culture and well-being of the population to mitigate many chronic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular ailments, and diabetes. In other words, if the population remains healthy, it reduces health costs, increases productivity, and contributes to the economy of a nation.
India is a diverse country where different kinds of people of different faiths, festivals, and cultures live together. In such a condition, sport plays a crucial role in nurturing social bonds and community spirit, which ultimately bridges the socio-economic divide.
In order to become successful in life, you need four basic qualities: discipline, teamwork, leadership, and perseverance. And, sports instill all four basic qualities in our youth and pave the way to becoming successful in life. Through sports tourism, sport products, and media rights, the sports sector stimulates local economies and creates opportunities for employment. It is a major economic engine. Large-scale sport events draw attention from all around the world, promoting trade relations and improving the nation's reputation abroad.