SAIS Newsletter Q1 2024
Introduction: Inaugural SAIS Newsletter
Hi, our names are Suraj Peramanu and Sid Balaga. We’re childhood best friends and co-founders of a rapidly growing newsletter called The 4th Quarter - which covers the latest in sports technology startups and the venture capital ecosystem. As proud South Asians in Sports members we’ve created a quarterly newsletter - spotlighting news about South Asian Athletes, Athlete Adjacent Figures, and Sports Business Standouts. We hope this 3-minute read highlights some recent success South Asians have had in the sports arena. If you’re into the bleeding-edge business activity & innovation happening in sports, check out The 4th Quarter!
South Asians in Sports News
Athletes
Saurabh Netravalkar, a principal engineer for Oracle, helped Team USA overcome Pakistan’s heavyweight cricket team in the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup, which is considered one of the biggest upsets in men’s cricket history (June 15th)
He knocked two wickets against Pakistan and bowled a flawless super over (OT of Cricket), leading Team USA to victory
Fun Fact: In an effort to use software engineering to improve the cricket world, Saurabh developed CricDecode, an app that helps cricket players better analyze the game! [The Sporting News]
Akshay Bhatia, an emerging superstar in golf, made national headlines for qualifying for the Masters, the most elite golf tournament in the world, through a clutch win against Denny McCarthy at the Valero Texas Open (April 9th)
He is the first golfer to reach the Masters who has competed in the Drive, Chip, & Putt national finals - a nationally televised golf tournament for golfers age 7 - 15, which is also held at the Augusta National Golf Club (the same club that hosts the Masters) [Forbes]
Dhinidhi Desingu, a 14-year old Bengaluru swimmer, is set to become the youngest athlete competing for India in the upcoming Paris Olympics (June 27th). She was named by the Swimming Federation of India to compete in the 200m freestyle
Having been a competitive swimmer for only six years, Dhinidhi has accomplished quite a lot, even becoming the youngest Indian to participate at the 2022 Asian Games [Times of India]
Athletes-Adjacent
Fellow SAIS member Sunny Mehta brokered a historic meeting between the NFL and BCCI, the governing body of cricket in India (June 11th)
This meeting helped each league share their goal of spreading each sport internationally, and how each organization can take advantage of their respective sports being added to the 2028 Olympics [Linkedin]
Singh Gill became the first South Asian to lead refereeing a Premier League match, a fixture between Crystal Palace and Luton Town (March 4th)
He comes from a family who have a strong referring heritage; his father Jarnail officiated 150 matches for English football leagues [ESPN]
Sports Business
RWS Global, a leading producer in live entertainment & sporting events, and their client The International Cricket Council (ICC) were invited to ring the bell at the legendary New York Stock Exchange (June 10th)
Bobby Sharma, founder of Bluestone Equity Partners - a private equity firm focused on sports, media, and entertainment - was also invited to the event as RWS Global is one of Bluestone’s portfolio companies
RWS Global partnered with ICC to help with the production of the recent ICC Men’s T20 World Cup [LinkedIn]
SAIS Spotlights
Sunny Mehta - International Marketing Strategy & Fan Development for the NFL
Having a deep love for both American football and Indian cricket at a young age, Sunny aspired to bridge the two worlds together. This past month, Sunny was able to achieve that goal by brokering a historic meeting between the NFL and BCCI, the governing body of cricket in India. In our interview with Sunny, he mentioned that this meeting helped each league share their goal of spreading each sport internationally, and how each organization can take advantage of their respective sports being added to the 2028 Olympics. In conjunction with this partnership, Sunny also led a mind-blowing media collaboration between NFL:superstar Micah Parson and famous Indian cricketer Jasprit Bumrah - their Instagram post together was a top 15 most-liked Instagram post from the NFL!
Sunny had a non-traditional path into sports; he started his professional career as a Corps Member teaching a first-grade class at D.C.’s Stanton Elementary. Lateraling into politics, Sunny worked at POLITCO magazine then did political consulting at Clyde Group. At Clyde, he hustled to build Clyde’s sports consulting agency, acquiring major clients from the Tiger Woods Foundation to the Special Olympics. As a fellow South Asians in Sports member, Sunny mentioned to us that SAIS helped him forge strong professional relationships in the industry that helped him land a job at the NFL. His advice to those who aspire to work in sports: hustle outside of your working hours & build meaningful connections in this space!
Parul Khosla - Co-Founder & CEO of Arena Talent
Pictured: Sid & Parul chatting on all things sports, careers, South Asian culture, and more
Over the last few months, we’ve been following along on one of Linkedin’s Top Voices and a leader within South Asians In Sports.This past week, we got to speak to her and see what she’s been building. Introducing Parul Khosla, Founder of Elevate Sports Talent and Arena - an up and coming sports recruitment platform powered by AI. Parul has spent 10+ years working in the sports & entertainment industry in talent acquisition & DEI roles at companies such as the NFL, Disney, MSG, and NHL.
As a South Asian in sports, Parul initially felt isolated by the lack of representation and diversity within the industry. On top of being one of the most gate-kept industries in the world, she found that the hiring process was non-transparent towards applicants and heavily relied on personal connections. After seeing a gap in the market, she founded Elevate Sports Talent to provide personalized career coaching for those seeking jobs in sports. Validating her hunch that there is a real business problem to be solved, Parul launched Arena, an AI-powered recruitment platform aiming to bring transparency and equity to hiring in sports, media, and entertainment. Leveraging artificial intelligence to automate manually laborious tasks of sifting through resumes, Arena surfaces top candidates, optimizes applications, mitigates bias, and helps employers find diverse talent. Currently, Arena has 2,500 job seekers and 67 interested employers on its Pre-Launch Waitlist.
It’s amazing to see Parul trailblazing in entrepreneurship, disrupting the industry, and thriving as a South Asian in Sports. For a more comprehensive list of jobs, subscribe to our newsletter The 4th Quarter for a new curated list every week! You might just have to use Arena for these fascinating jobs below!
Job Board & Opportunities: Week July 1st, 2024
1. UFC - Global Partnerships Fall 2024 Intern
2. OddsJam - Multiple Roles on Content, Marketing, Influencer
3. Atlanta Hawks - Advanced Scouting & Video Associate: Entry Level
4. NHL - Club Business Affairs Assistant: Entry Level / $70K
5. NFL - Sr. Coordinator, Biz Dev & Strategic Investments: ~3 Years of Exp / $105K
6. Swish Analytics - Product Scientist: 5 Years of Experience / $180K
7. USA Triathlon - Data & Analytics Manager: 3-5 Years of Experience / $80K
8. MVP - Senior Product Manager: 5+ Years of Experience / $145K
9. NOLA Gold Rugby: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
10. PrizePicks - Executive Assistant to Founder: 10+ Years of Experience
Neha Uberoi
Cofounder and CEO, South Asians in Sports