Ola launches #RoadToGold, a nationwide crowdfunding campaign to enable India’s Gold medal dream at world sporting events

Ola, India’s leading and one of the world’s largest ride-sharing platforms, today launched a nationwide crowdfunding campaign to develop grassroots sporting talent -#RoadToGold. The campaign aims to support India’s collective dream to increase the chances of winning Gold medals at major global sporting events. To kick-start this campaign, Ola has enabled its customers to contribute a sum of INR 1, per ride across the 110+ cities it operates in.

The collected funds will be used to identify promising talent from India’s heartlands and mold them into champion sportspeople through state-of-the-art infrastructure, professional training from international coaches, complemented by extensive sports science facilities and a structured academic program. These future sporting stars will also benefit from support and guidance from Indian sporting legends such as Sourav Ganguly, Mahesh Bhupathi, Abhinav Bindra and Yogeshwar Dutt, amongst others.

Ola has partnered with JSW Sports’ Institute in Bellary, Karnataka to play an active role in the training and coaching of young athletes at the facility. Ola and JSW sports share a common vision to identify and nurture the latent sporting talent in grassroots India. By combining the widespread reach of Ola’s platform and JSW Sports’ expertise in developing sporting talent over the years,#RoadToGoldis poised to catapult India’s medal-winning performances and increase the nation’s image as a champion performer. The campaign will also be bolstered by an awareness drive spearheaded by superstar Akshay Kumar, and the cast of the movie ‘Gold’.

Speaking on this initiative, Pallav Singh, Senior Vice President, Ola said“We are proud to introduce #RoadToGold, a nationwide initiative towards supporting exceptional sporting talent in the country. The right encouragement complements sports professionals’ immense talent to win accolades at a global stage and together with a small contribution of INR 1, we can strengthen India’s chances of winning Gold medals globally.”He further added “We are glad to partner with JSW Sports and Excel entertainment who have been staunch supporters of sports in India through infrastructure and entertainment. Together, we share the dream to identify high caliber talent and turn them into medal-winning performers.”

Commenting on this initiative Mustafa Ghouse, CEO, JSW Sports, said “At JSW Sports, we have supported talented Indian sportspersons over the past few years and have seen the kind of impact that proper training and facilities can have on performances. Through our institute, we are attempting to take this initiative even wider by providing young talent across India access to world-class infrastructure and sports science to help them realize their potential. We are proud to partner with a company like Ola to foster sporting talent and spearhead a generation of exceptional sportspersons.”

Speaking on this occasion Ritesh Sidhwani, Producer, Excel Entertainment said“The initiative to enable India’s gold medal dream worked seamlessly with our film’s message of Free India’s first Olympic Gold. It’s great to see all of us coming together to sow the seed for India’s glorious future in sports.”

This initiative is in continuation of the company’s commitment to being a socially responsible brand. The ‘My Ride. My Cause’initiative taken up recently along with Tata Trusts to improve cancer care in the country saw a great response from people across cities. Customers will be able to track the total amount of contributions made at any time and can also claim tax exemption with an 80G certificate for the contributions made (available from January 2019).