The Pune based franchise Puneri Paltan are owned by Insurekot Sports, a Mumbai firm with varied interests in sports.
Operating from Santacruz in Mumbai, Insurekot Sports was founded on 9 April 2001. As of now, the company has three directors, Sumanlal Babulal Shah, Rajesh Harkishandas Doshi, and Karthi Kumar Venkatraman Marshan.
Sumanlal Shah is also a Partner/Director at various other companies including Kotak Commodity Services, Business Standard Online Private Limited, Infina Finance Ltd, among others. Similarly, Mr. Doshi is also the Director at companies other than Insurekot Sports.
The owners have often expressed interest in reinvigorating the sport of kabaddi and have organised various events to recognise and nurture talent at a young age itself.
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For example, in 2014, they organised a selection camp at Balewadi Stadium in Pune, with selected candidates having a good chance to play for the Puneri Paltan in the 2015 edition. Apart from this, the owners organised a “Talent Hunt” in parts of Maharashtra. With the help of local kabaddi clubs, they shortlisted talented young players to attend a 7-10 day training camp at Balewadi, Pune.
This was not all, though. To spread awareness of the game in schools, a “Little Puneri Champs” camp was held in late 2014. Schools were also offered a module to train physical education teachers in basic kabaddi skills. Director Sumanlal Shah was quoted as saying, “Smaller towns in our country are blessed with great sporting talent. However, they often go unrecognised because of lack of opportunities. Through these camps, we plan to identify talented players and provide them with a platform to grow and prove themselves.”
The good work by the owners has continued until now. Recently, they organised an Inter-School Kabaddi tournament in Pune on 25th and 26th June. The initiative was lauded by the participating teams and coaches who thanked the organisers for giving students exposure to the game, and enabling them to understand the tactics, agility and footwork needed to succeed at the highest level.
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On this occasion, Kailash Kandpal, CEO, Insurekot Sports Pvt Ltd and Manager of Puneri Paltan told India Education Diary, “We want to reinforce kabaddi right from the grass root levels. Inter-school tournaments are the best way to do so because there is a lot of young and fresh talent waiting to be discovered. We want to keep this tradition going and aim to organise such tournaments every year.”
It is heartening to see that the owners of Puneri Paltan are laying such an emphasis on the development of kabaddi in the country. As fans of the game, we wish them the best in their endeavours!
