Sachin Tendulkar reveals passion for the sport of karting

Sachin Tendulkar on a go-karting track

You wouldn’t have thought that Sachin Tendulkar, one of India’s richest and most famous celebrities, would have sat in a taxi since becoming a professional cricketer, but he revealed on Monday that he once had to do so in order to arrive at a match venue on time.

Travelling by taxi

"I have had a little bad experience while driving. I was going to Nagpur after my injury to play a one-day match and my flight was around 6 or 6:30 in the morning and my car's tyre got punctured at 5:30 am and I had to reach airport to catch flight.

"So I had to take a taxi to reach the airport. I was tensed that I won't probably get a taxi," Tendulkar told reporters at the launch of a Go-Karting circuit at Smaaash.

"It was a combination of taxi and rickshaw to reach the airport with all the bags. And I was able to practice that day. It was one of the challenging experiences of driving," he said.

Love for karting

The 41-year old’s love for driving on the cricket field is well known, but he spoke here about his passion for driving of a different kind.

"I am extremely passionate about driving, especially karting. I have done karting in a lot of places like New Zealand, Austria, Germany England, everywhere. This is one of the best tracks as far as grip is concerned. I would say it is a miracle what they have achieved in such a small space. It was an enjoyable experience and I would definitely come back again."

He said that the most amount of fun he has had while karting was when he once designed a track for his friend Sanjay Narang. "The most amount of fun I had fun while karting when I designed a track for my friend Sanjay Narang and we used to kart at night," he said.

Tendulkar concluded by expressing his support for the sport of karting and hopes that India can produce world champions in the sport in the imminent future.

"It is about encouraging all sports in India and karting is one of them. We should encourage karting. There should be as much following, appreciation and that is how you are going to get good results. We have produced formula one drivers so why not world class karting champions as well who can bring laurels to our nation," he said.