#VedantaSports #NationalSportsDay #LevellingThePlayingField #GrassrootsToGlobal #RunForZeroHunger #SesaFootballAcademy
Chandigarh — On the occasion of National Sports Day, Vedanta Limited (NSE: VEDL), India’s leading critical minerals, energy transition metals, energy, and technology conglomerate, reaffirmed its commitment to using sports as a tool for social inclusion. Aligned with this year’s theme — “Levelling the Playing Field: Sport for Social Inclusion” — the company announced that its grassroots and professional sports initiatives have positively impacted nearly 3 lakh lives in FY25, making it one of the largest corporate-led sports movements in the country.
Sports as a catalyst for change
Vedanta’s sports vision is to drive India’s sporting transformation by nurturing grassroots talent, empowering communities, and enabling international podium success. By investing strategically in infrastructure, coaching, and holistic player development, the company has created an ecosystem that blends athletic training with education and life skills.
From football to archery, hockey, marathons, squash, karate, padel, and para-sports, Vedanta has built a multi-sport presence that provides opportunities to young athletes across diverse geographies.
Football: Building champions from the ground up
Football has emerged as a flagship program for Vedanta in states like Goa and Rajasthan. The Sesa Football Academy (SFA), established in 1999, has already trained over 8,000 students and produced 230 professional footballers, including Indian national team players such as Adil Khan and Denzil Franco.
Since 2017, SFA has also supported the Vedanta Women’s League (VWL) in Goa, which has given a platform to more than 1,400 women footballers. This commitment to gender inclusion is already bearing fruit. One of its success stories is Pearl Fernandes, who rose from the VWL ranks to earn a spot in the Indian squad for the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) U-17 Championship in Bhutan.
Similarly, the Zinc Football Academy (ZFA) in Udaipur has produced promising talents like Mohammed Kaif and Prem Hansdak, who represented India in the SAFF U-17 and AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. The academy recently set up the Zinc Football Girls Academy, one of India’s first residential football academies for girls, equipped with F-Cube training technology. It has already inducted 20 U-15 players from five states, further strengthening Vedanta’s commitment to women in sports.
Graduates from these academies are making their mark at the highest level, with several players signing contracts with Indian Super League (ISL) clubs, including Hyderabad FC and Mohun Bagan Super Giants.
Archery and athletics: Tribal youth making history
Vedanta’s impact is visible in tribal belts as well. In Odisha’s Kalahandi district, the company has trained over 300 tribal youth in archery, athletics, and karate, with 110 currently receiving professional coaching. Among them, Sanjay Majhi created history by clinching Odisha’s first individual archery medal at the national level in more than two decades during the NTPC Senior Nationals 2024.
“My coach Simanchal Kadraka is a national-level archer himself. Additionally, Vedanta Archery Training Initiative has held my hand since the beginning, helping me with everything from sports equipment to my diet,” Majhi shared.
In Jharkhand, Vedanta ESL Steel’s archery academy supports 50 youngsters who have already bagged more than 50 medals. Standouts include Aarti Kumari, who won triple gold and was recognised by the Olympic Archery Association, as well as Kritika Kumari and Gayatri Majhi.
Empowering para-athletes and underprivileged communities
Vedanta’s commitment extends beyond mainstream sports. With the support of Vedanta Sesa Goa, Sakshi Kale became Goa’s first para-athlete to win medals at the Para Khelo India Games and went on to represent India at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Paris.
In Mumbai’s Dharavi, Vedanta runs a program offering free squash training to 20 children, giving underprivileged kids a chance to dream big in one of the world’s largest slums.
Marathons with a mission
Vedanta has linked fitness with philanthropy through its #RunForZeroHunger campaign. By supporting marathons across Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, the company has ensured that every kilometre run translates into nutrition support for children at Nand Ghar — its flagship social impact project modernising Anganwadis across India.
Professional sports and global forays
Vedanta is not only nurturing grassroots talent but also investing in professional and emerging sports. The company owns Vedanta Kalinga Lancers, Odisha’s premier hockey team. In the 2024–25 season of the Hockey India League, the team scored the highest number of goals, with star forward Thierry Brinkman emerging as the top scorer.
Expanding globally, Vedanta has also entered the rapidly growing sport of padel with its team Vedanta Leopards, which finished as runners-up in the World Padel League’s inaugural season.
A corporate-led sports revolution
Vedanta’s efforts demonstrate how corporate participation can create sustainable sporting ecosystems that touch lives at every level — from grassroots training in tribal villages to professional leagues at the national and international stage.
As India celebrates National Sports Day, the company’s impact on nearly 3 lakh lives in FY25 showcases how business can be a powerful enabler of inclusion, discipline, and opportunity. From empowering women and para-athletes to investing in new-age sports like padel, Vedanta has established itself as a torchbearer of sports-driven social transformation.
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