NEW DELHI: A company promoted by Australian cricket hero, Steve Waugh, is linking up with real estate developers to design and plan sports facilities and spaces in upcoming housing townships in India. More than a business idea, the move is aimed at providing leisure and sports grounds to a growing number of middle and upper-middle class Indians moving into apartments in fast urbanizing India. Developers cashing in on the housing demand hardly plan for sports and leisure facilities and the Steve Waugh founded Sporting Edge Communities, hopes to fill this void. According to Gautam Gadgil of Sporting Edge Communities, they will be targeting 25 cities which have 25 acre and above townships that hold over 2,000 dwellings. Gadgil said, the company is already in talks with developers in Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat, to include sports infrastructure in their plans. The specialty of Sporting Edge Communities is to provide expertise to set up infrastructure for a number of disciplines in sports, not merely aimed at producing sportsmen, but also a healthy lifestyle for those living in the townships and large condominiums. Already, Sporting Edge Communities has clinched deals in two Indian cities — Pune and Coimbatore. In a third city close to Kolkata, the company has begun work to set up its first facility after tying up with the Shrachi Group based in Kolkata. Basketball, tennis, soccer, swimming and fitness besides of course cricket where Sporting Edge Communities' founder, Steve Waugh, has achieved iconic status will be the areas that the company will concentrate on, according to Gadgil, who is its India partner. It will also take on board other sporting icons, including swimming champion and Aussie Ian Thorpe, to brand the facilities. Gadgil added that the facilities will be funded by a model that involves generating revenue from contributions made by the township's residents and the neighboring communities. Gadgil claimed the company has invested heavily in branding as well as intellectual property rights of the model and estimates they will break even in less than a year of the projects materializing. He said, the projects in Coimbatore and Pune will be on stream by the end of 2013 and the one in Burdwan, near Kolkata in mid-2013.
