5th Global Sports Summit FICCI kicks off.

India’s largest international convention on business of sports.

Turf 2013, 23-24^th Oct, 2013.

The 5^th Global Sorts Summit also dubbed as the largest international convention on business of sports was inaugurated in the esteemed presence of Her Excellency Jan Henderson (High commissioner of New Zealand to India), Dr. Arbind Prasad (DG, FICCI), Mr. GSG Ayyangar (Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs), eminent FICCI dignitaries, sports research delegates from the UK and New Zealand, sportsperson from the yesteryears as well as the present, media and media partners.

Understanding sports as an emerging industry and the plethora of opportunities available, FICCI came up with the idea of TURF, a joint initiative aimed at improving the available sporting infrastructure to develop and place India as one amongst the greatest sporting nations. TURF aims at gathering and providing sports development strategies, investments etc to nurture a country with almost unlimited sporting talents.

TURF 2013 was all about focusing on challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs, raising the standards of sports and physical education and improving the employability of human resources, all of which are key points for the growth of the sports sector in India.

The summit was inaugurated with key note addresses by the key panelists emphasizing on the instrumental role played by FICCI in stimulating sports development in India. GSG Ayyangar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs, stressed on the ‘dream’ of enabling India to be amongst the top 10 sporting nations with respect to the greatest sporting events of all time, the Olympics.

H.E. Jan Henderson threw light on the understandings between India and New Zealand. Various ventures between the two countries to promote sports and sports development were highlighted. A MoU was signed between the New Zealand High Commission and FICCI, arranging provisions for a select number of underprivileged sporting clubs in India to engage in a joint cricket program under the guidance of the John Wright Organization and the Southern Institute of Technology.

The house was shown a video presentation, highlighting the amazing talents available at hand and the various development and investment opportunities available in Sports.

The summit will continue for the next two days with a number of sessions scheduled involving a panel of speakers discussing the development and investment opportunities available, working towards a sports enabled India and a range of themes.