Shocking news for the F1 fans in India the sports ministry has refused to endorse F1 as a sport. As fallout the F1 is not entitled to custom duty exemptions nor would they assist JKSP sports in paying Rs 177 crore to F1 authorities. Though JSKP sports is still very optimistic and confirmed that they would go ahead with the track they are building near Greater Noida (satellite town to Delhi 50kms) . JSKP sports is the official promoter of F1 in India according to the deal they have with F1 authorities based in UK. JKSP being a part of the Jai prakash associates (a $2.8 billion group).
Sports ministry rational is that “F1 is not a sport and this is a commercial initiative by JSPK sports”!. A very myopic statement from the sports ministry I would say. The event would be just like any other sporting event in the country, it would bring a lot of money with sports tourism, would improve India’s candidature for grand international events like Olympics. Formula one is one massive event with 600 million people watching it per race (according to Wikipedia) . The world is looking up to India to drive the global economy in the future and we have our ministries shying away.
F1 has a large fan following in India. Be it Vijay Mallaya’s Force India , Narain karthiken’s F1 debut , Karun chandhok the next F1 hope for India or the upcoming circuit in greater Noida. Indian fans have waited enough for F1. We have to have F1 in India, for sports , for F1 fans, for technology , for the India’s stature , for tourism for the motor sport in India. All the best to JSKP group !
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Author: Porush Jain – Seasoned Keeda
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I completely agree with you. Its not just about the F1. Its about the attitude the govt shows towards sports.
They can spend 500 Crores to build statues, but cannot use it for development of sports.
It would do so much good for sports in India, to see Schumi in the pit lane, tifosi on the stands and our very own force India scream through the streets of greater Noida.