Sports
Kumite I League – An exhilaration amongst the Youth
While India is going all gaga over Cricket, the talk of the town today is the coming up of an exceptional Combat sport in the name of the Kumite I League (KIL).
In conversation with Mr. Mohammed Ali Budhwani, Chairman and Managing Director of Toyam Industries Ltd, he said, “With the growing awareness about health, Combat Sport has already been added as a part of the workout sessions at many gyms across the country. India has a lot of enthusiastic people who want to make a career in sports and this is yet another opportunity for all of them.”
On being asked about how the idea of starting the Kumite I League came up, he said, “We have always aimed at doing something different and want to expand in diverse fields. Sports have been the fastest growing segment in the past few years and various leagues have been able to integrate two greatest obsessions of Indians – Sports and Glamour. We have conceptualized the idea further by providing other combat sports theme based businesses on one integrated platform. And Toyam Industries Limited is the only public traded company in the segment. Martial Art is always known to be something that is prevalent in China but little do people know that the roots of it are from India.”
To give a small excerpt of what the game would be like, Budhwani added, “KIL is a fight league with the best of elements picked from combat sports, boxing as well as WWE. The fighters have to be a minimum age of 21 to be a part of it. It shall be played in Teams of 7 which will constitute 5 men and 2 women while each team shall be allowed to have 3 Substitutions.”
Fight is something that people of all age groups connect to. From movies like Sultan to Dangal, we have seen the sport thriving and making the right noise. On being asked the channels that will air these matches, the Chairman replied that though a few channels have shown keen interest in it, it is still too early to talk about it.
When asked if the format would be similar to IPL, ISL or Pro Kabaddi League Budhwani replied, “The matches would be more pertaining to countries than states in particular. There shall be International Teams like India, Pakistan, UAE, US, United Kingdom and Russia competing against each other with each team having at least 50% of players who shall be inhabitants of the country that they represent. We plan to have the first exhibition match between India and Pakistan on the 26th January 2018. The selection of International fighters is done while those from India & Pakistan are yet to be done.”
The global concept is picked to promote the immense talent that exists in the country. The Kumite I League President, Mr. Mehul Vora, is a black belt and has been doing kudo for Superstar Akshay Kumar from last 9 Years and is also the President of Kudo India. Mohammed Ali Budhwani confidently said,” We have our safety standards set to avoid injuries and there is extensive training facility being provided as well.
Toyam Industries Ltd aims to make Kumite I League as a brand in itself and not leave it to just matches. They have come up with KIL Merchandise namely – health foods and drinks, bottles, T-Shirts, Protein Bars, Deodorants and Perfumes as well as venturing out in Gaming and Cafes. The first cafe is already in place at Versova, Andheri and is about 4500 sq.ft..
Budhwani said, “We also plan to develop properties called KIL Arena that shall have Live Combat Sport entertainment in the middle while people could sit and eat food while enjoying. This could serve as a great platform for Corporate v/s Corporate matches as well for the budding talent that we have in the country. We definitely have a lot more exciting things on our check lists coming up really soon.”
