U Sports appoint Saurabh Arora as vice-president of sales

Mumbai: U Sports on Thursday announced the appointment of Saurabh Arora as Vice President of Sales. In his new position, Saurabh will be in charge of maximizing sponsorship/commercial opportunities and develop key alliances for U Sports' kabaddi team U Mumba as well U Dream Football, an international youth development programme and the forthcoming U Moto 250.

After a successful stint with IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals as Head - Sponsorships & Alliances, Saurabh will play a key role in driving commercial growth for U Sports' Kabaddi team and current Pro Kabaddi Champions, U Mumba, highlighting the growth of kabaddi into a mainstream sport in only two seasons.

With Rajasthan Royals, his primary responsibilities included implementing sales strategy and generating sponsorship revenue for the franchise which also included introducing potential sponsors to a sports team for the first time. Previously, Saurabh worked with Bloomberg UTV and was responsible for allocating airtime to sponsors and content programme creation.

Keeping in line with U Sports' objectives of broadening the spotlight on other sports in India and encouraging the youth to take up such sports, Saurabh will be a valuable addition to the U Sports team to help them further their objectives of sports development in India. Having worked in the sport of cricket for 6 years, Saurabh will be able to implement his skills and expertise to promote the growth of U Sports' endeavors in broadening the sports spectrum in India.

Supratik Sen, CEO, U Sports said, "With the amount of dedication and hard work needed to expand the reach of football, kabaddi and motorsports in India, we are delighted that Saurabh will be our Vice President of Sales with his wealth of knowledge and understanding of the industry. Kabaddi has landed as sport no. 2 in India. The TV numbers very well say so and that will make sure that U Mumba will look to close higher revenues. This is a small but sure indication of how eager the sports scene in India is willing to change its focus from cricket to other sports. His inner observations about the market accepting different sports will be invaluable to our efforts."