ABOUT US

Championing excellence in Indian sport.

We identify gaps in Indian sport through research and design targeted programmes to close them — working with partners to strengthen the systems that enable excellence across the sporting ecosystem.

Why sport matters

Sport builds more than athletes.

We believe sporting success strengthens human capital, creates livelihoods, and inspires collective ambition — which is why we build systems that connect participation, performance, and policy.

Ecosystem collaboration

We bring together partners, academies, institutions, and communities to create aligned, sustainable sporting networks.

Podium pathways

Structured high-performance environments that enable athletes to train, compete, and succeed at the global level.

Systemic impact

Sport builds discipline, resilience, and social capital — shaping individuals and strengthening communities and institutions.

Guided by purpose

Mission & vision

Our mission

To enable changemakers in building world-class talent systems. We bring together donors, coaches, experts, athletes, communities, governments, parents, academies, and federations to create aligned and accountable ecosystems. Because for excellence to endure, the systems behind it must work.

Our vision

To see India's athletes thrive as champions on the global stage and as catalysts for nation building. When athletes succeed, they inspire participation, strengthen communities, and build human capital — positioning sport as a central pillar of India's growth story.

Leadership & governance

The people steering the system

Named and pictured here directly from our FY 2025–26 Annual Report.

Trustees

Nandan Kamath

Nandan Kamath

Managing Trustee

Also works extensively on legal and policy developments in the sports ecosystem, including the design of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme. Author of Boundary Lab (Penguin Viking), Sports Book of the Year at the Ekamra Literature Festival 2024.

Abhishek Laxminarayan

Abhishek Laxminarayan

Trustee

Investor and advisor with 20+ years across public markets, private investments, and venture capital. Began his career in M&A at Lehman Brothers, founded Indavest, and most recently served as CIO at Catamaran.

Thomas Ollapally

Thomas Ollapally

Trustee

Managing Director, Nandi Housing Pvt Ltd. Graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Board Members

Unmish Parthasarathi

Unmish Parthasarathi

Board Member

Has volunteered with GoSports since 2016 — as senior advisor to the Trustees, mentor to the CEO, and first non-executive director and chairman of the governing board. Previously held leadership roles at IMG, the BBC, ESPN Star Sports & News Corp, and the ICC.

Meghana Narayan

Meghana Narayan

Board Member

Founder of Slurrp Farm. Previously led the Public Health practice at McKinsey & Company. MBA from Harvard Business School; BA from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar; BE with Distinction from Bangalore University.

Deepthi Bopaiah

Deepthi Bopaiah

Board Member

A former Karnataka state-level tennis player who moved from finance at HSBC into sports administration. Chevening Gurukul Fellow at Oxford and MBA graduate from SIMS; currently serves on the TOPS committee under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Executive Leadership

PHOTO

Saugato Banerjee

Chief Executive Officer

PHOTO

Sonali Anna Philip

Programmes

PHOTO

John Gloster

Director of Sports Science

Beta note: Trustees and Board Members above are named and quoted directly from the FY 2025–26 Annual Report, with photos extracted from the same document. Saugato Banerjee's title (CEO) is confirmed via a separate internal document; Sonali Anna Philip's and John Gloster's titles are best-effort reads from the Annual Report's staff directory and carried-over vendor content respectively — worth a quick HR confirmation before publishing.
Our journey

18 years of dedication, innovation, and impact

2008
Foundation established by Nandan Kamath, Joseph Ollapally & Hakimuddin Habibulla.
2010
Building our foundation: leveraging community support for aspiring athletes.
2013
Launched the Athlete Education initiative, culminating in the first-ever Athletes' Conclave.
2014
First major corporate partner, Aditya Birla Group, supports the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme.
2015
Launched the Para Champions Programme with IndusInd Bank for differently-abled athletes.
2016
75% of India's total medal tally at the Rio Paralympics came from GoSports-supported athletes.
2017
Knowledge Partners to the BCCI — workshops with the Women's National Cricket team and Under-19 Men's team.
2018
Commissioned by the International Shooting Sport Federation to write the first-of-its-kind handbook for shooting athletes worldwide.
2019
Honoured with the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for identifying and nurturing young sporting talent.
2021
34 supported athletes competed at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, winning 8 medals.
2023
68 supported athletes competed at the Asian Games and Asian Para Games, winning 30 medals.
2024
200+ athletes supported across 12 Athlete Development CSR-funded programmes.
2026
Celebrating 18 years of enabling excellence in Indian sport.
For researchers

Research, policy & the SAPA Stack

We produce India-centric research spanning sport and physical activity's (SAPA) impact on health, livelihoods, and economic growth — through the seven-layer SAPA Stack Framework, developed in partnership with academic and policy institutions.

40+ research outputs

Studies, policy briefs, and toolkits produced to date, including India's first SAPA glossary.

Policy adoption in 6 states

Research has directly informed policy integrating sport with health, education, and social agendas.

9 national convenings

Bringing together 300+ organisations and practitioners to share learnings and build consensus.

Beta note: our dedicated research & policy hub (including the SAPA Centre) is being built as a standalone site and will link from here once ready.