Rising enterprise Adani and Wilmar’s fruitful venture in PKL with the Gujarat Franchise

Pro Kabaddi League is a professional kabaddi league founded in 2014 by sports management company Mashal Sports Pvt. Ltd. Star India. The official broadcaster of the league owns a 74% stake in PKL.

Ever since PKL announced that 4 new teams will take part in the 2017 season, Adani Wilmar began formulating plans of having a team in Ahmedabad, their headquarters and introduced Gujarat Fortune Giants. The team’s home ground is the 4,000-capacity ‘The Arena by TransStadia’. 

The new geographies for VIVO Pro Kabaddi Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat were primarily chosen for their high affinity towards Kabaddi with massive fan bases, significant on-ground presence of the sport, and potential commercial value to sponsors and advertisers.
The hard work started after Adani-Wilmar Group won the rights to form Gujarat Fortune Giants. Having no experience of being part of a sporting event, the odds were stacked against them.

However, they succeeded in creating a great team including one of the best corner defense player Fazel Atrachali, and the best defender of PKL 4 and Abozar Mighani. The latter also happens to be the costliest foreign player of the PKL 5 auction. The captaincy was handed over to Sukesh Hegde, who is known for his achievements in Telugu Titans earlier. 

Adani Wilmar’s idea of packing the team with youth that fits into the teams’ vision for the long-running PKL series instead of filling the rota with stars is working wonders for the team. The very upbeat anthem #GarjegaGujarat truly reflects the spirit of the game, the team and the state it represents. 

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It has been an amazing journey that Gujarat Fortune Giants have covered, defying the odds and winning one match after another. This has been possible as the team is owned by one of the largest business giants in the country- Adani Wilmar Limited- people who feel passionately about Kabaddi and it’s supporters. 

The owners’ vision, however, is not limited to just the PKL. They want to establish a kabaddi culture in Gujarat, helping it become one of the leading states for the sport in the country. This is showcased by their efforts of improving grassroots kabaddi in the state, inspiring youngsters to take up the sport and develop a framework for an effective transition from academy to international kabaddi.

The Gujarat Fortune giants’ management approach is unlike any other seen in the PKL. The owners pay attention to the most minute detail regarding the team ensuring their spirits are always roaring when they enter the mat every match. Apart from ensuring that the players get adequate rest, Adani Group also appointed the only foreign and woman physiotherapist in the league, Oliwia Witek.

Adani Wilmar Limited (AWL) – a joint venture of the Adani Group the leaders in international trading and private infrastructure has certainly devised a winning formula in the Pro Kabaddi League by banking heavily on the well- hunted talent that they aimed at won in the auctions.  

VIVO Pro Kabaddi got 435 million* views in the very first season and its cumulative viewership growth of 51% over the last4 seasons is just paving way for the Gujarat Fortune Giants to be in the spotlight and become the face of Gujarat’s Kabaddi talent.