Sai University Inaugurates New Sports Complex; Students Showcase Sporting Excellence

Sai University Inaugurates New Sports Complex; Students Showcase Sporting Excellence

New Delhi [India], April 6: Sai University recently marked a significant milestone with the grand opening of its Sports Complex at the university’s main campus on OMR, strengthening its commitment to promoting sports, wellness, and holistic student development.

The event was originally scheduled to be inaugurated by Thiru T. M. Anbarasan, Honourable Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of Tamil Nadu. Due to an emergency cabinet meeting, the Honourable Minister was unable to attend the event in person but conveyed his warm greetings and best wishes for the success of the Sports Complex inauguration and the university’s continued growth.

The ceremony was graced by distinguished guests, including Thiru S. R. L. Idhayavarman, Chairman, Thirupporur Panchayat Union and Former MLA, Thirumathi Satya Sekhar, Vice Chairman, Thirupporur Panchayat Union, Tmt Viji Mohan, President, Kunnappattu Village Panchayat, and other dignitaries who formally inaugurated the facilities.

In the first phase of the Sports Complex, several key sporting facilities were opened for student use, including basketball, volleyball, cricket and football grounds, badminton and shuttle courts, and dedicated cricket net practice facilities. These facilities are designed to encourage active participation in sports and support the development of competitive athletes at the university.

Following the inauguration, students presented an energetic sports showcase demonstrating their skills in boxing, taekwondo, silambam, basketball, cricket, volleyball, and other sporting disciplines. The demonstrations highlighted the talent, discipline, and enthusiasm of Sai University students.

Adding to the spirit of the event, the dignitaries and the Sai University leadership team actively interacted with students and briefly participated in several sports activities, creating an engaging and celebratory atmosphere on campus.

The guests also met and congratulated the Sai University Cricket Team, which recently secured the winning title at a major inter-college cricket tournament held in Chennai, appreciating their achievement and sportsmanship.

The event was attended by the Sai University leadership team, including:

  • Thiru K. V. Ramani, Founder and Chancellor
  • Dr. Ajith Abraham, Vice Chancellor and Dean, School of Artificial Intelligence
  • Dr. Subrata Dey, Dean, School of Business and Dean, Student Affairs
  • Mr. S. Sundara Rajan, Registrar
  • Mr. V. Srinivasan, Director – Finance

Speaking at the occasion, the university leadership emphasized that the new Sports Complex reflects Sai University’s vision of nurturing well-rounded individuals by integrating academics, physical fitness, leadership, and teamwork.

The inauguration marks the beginning of a new chapter in building a vibrant sporting culture on campus, encouraging students to pursue excellence both in academics and athletics.

About Sai University

Sai University, located on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Chennai, is a multidisciplinary institution committed to delivering globally benchmarked education through its schools of Arts & Sciences, Law, Business, Media, Computing and Data Science, Biotech, Artificial Intelligence, and allied health sciences. The university emphasizes interdisciplinary learning, research, and holistic development to prepare students for leadership in a rapidly evolving world.

The Legacy of Rackonnect: A name synonymous to Indian Racket sports focussed on Badminton

The Legacy of Rackonnect: A name synonymous to Indian Racket sports focussed on Badminton
  • Bringing popularity to a fast growing sport globally.
  • Creating the latest state of the art Badminton Arenas in NCR region of Delhi.
  • Specialized coaching, training and competitive opportunities for upcoming players.
  • Providing affordable and advanced equipment for playing badminton.
  • Tech based software to manage tournaments and rank players based on performance.

Racket sports refer to any sport that involves the use of a racket. Some of the sports that come under this category are badminton, tennis, squash, table tennis and pickleball among others. While many Indian sportspersons have achieved great things in this sport category, there was a dearth of a strong system that would help players, who are interested in racket sports, to get the kind of opportunities they deserve.

To bridge this gap, Dhruv M. Bagla founded Rackonnect which has emerged as India’s first one-stop destination for all those who play racket sports. The mission of Rackonnect is to put together an elaborate sports community that would inspire and motivate racket sports fanatics to create a name for themselves in this space, while helping improve mental and physical fitness.

Talking about the vision behind Rackonnect, founder Dhruv M. Bagla says, “As we all know, India is a cricket-crazy nation. That is a great thing as very few countries have the kind of clout India has in this space. However, promoting other sports is equally important. We have designed Rackonnect as a hyperlocal sports-tech platform that aims to create a powerful impact on India’s racket sports community which is quite big. Our goal is to make racket sports accessible to everyone regardless of their age, gender and economic background.”

Rackonnect has been strengthening the racket sports ecosystem through infrastructure development and distribution of equipment. By combining sports and technology, the company is focussing on empowering grassroot-level players and helping them achieve their goals and ambitions. While the vision of the company is to raise awareness of racket sports and make racket sports available to all, its strategy is to provide a competitive platform through tournaments to scout and nurture promising players.

Elaborating on this, Dhruv says, “One of our USPs is the Rackonnect Tournament Solution. The kind of facilities we are providing players, coaches and others is the kind no other company or individual has offered in India till date. We organize tournaments without making the stakeholders go through hectic paperwork. Tech being the backbone of the company, has enabled users to do all their tasks online which they would otherwise do on paper, thereby simplifying the task of managing an event, thereby making events more competitive. We spent hours making algorithms that would automate things such as draw seeding and separation, automated match scheduling, real time updates, and many more. We are implementing methods and proposals that would make everything that happens in the racket sports space more transparent and organized.”

At the moment, Rackonnect has five badminton arenas located in Delhi/NCR. Its badminton arena at Noida Indoor Stadium is a sight to behold. It features 10 BWF-approved wooden cum synthetic courts, a sitting capacity of 5,000 people, free parking, healthy cafe and shower facility. Having ventured into the infrastructure space in June 2021, rackonnect is confident of a fast-paced expansion journey wherein by 2025 they plan to have 50 state of the art facilities in North India. “The vision of making North India the biggest hub for badminton may seem far sighted, but the support and encouragement we have got in a short span will definitely make this vision come true,” adds Dhruv.

Apart from offering event bookings for corporate, institutions and international accredited tournaments, Rackonnect assures you of wider reach, increased efficiency, reduced time and cost and helps players build their tournament portfolio. For offering racket sports coaching, the company has joined hands with Padukone Sports Management which is helmed by badminton legend Prakash Padukone. In the near future, Rackonnect plans to come up with several unique initiatives that would propel the growth of the racket sports community forward.

Apart from focusing on several initiatives for the enhancement of racket sports, Rackonnect has also introduced a social initiative by the name of Racket for All to encourage prospective racket sports enthusiasts who are unable to pursue the sport due to social and economic restrictions. Rackonnect organizes regular workshops, tournaments, equipment donation drives to ensure exposure for these athletes.

Lastly, Dhruv Bagla added, “This year is going to be a big one for the entire Rackonnect team due to several expansion plans and Rackonnect strives to support the growth of professional players and wants to be a part of the journey for glory”.