When Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s stake in Arun Pandey’s Rhiti Sports came under a scanner less than a year ago, they were almost disowning each other — as skipper of the Indian team, could he be really be unbiased about the inclusion of certain players represented by a celeb management company he had a stake in? The little known company had made national headlines when it pipped biggies like IMG, Percept, Sunil Gavaskar’s PMG, World Sport Group and Planman Consulting to land the contract for managing Dhoni’s endorsements — the three-year Rs 200 crore deal had catapulted Dhoni past Sachin Tendulkar’s Rs 180 crore figure in the corporate contract sweepstakes. The association is clearly going from strength to strength — at least Dhoni and Pandey have little to hide about their other partnerships not directly related to cricket.
The pals were in Mumbai together over the weekend to push for an effort they hope might find place in the Guinness Book of World Records — a cross country bike rally which will pass through every state in the country. Held under the aegis of their brainchild — the Bike Festival of India — the finale will be a MotoGP-inspired racing championship at the Buddh International Circuit. It’s a great way to promote the super motorbike racing team he co-owns South star Nagarjuna, which has been notching up podium finishes at international championships, including the World Super Sport championship race in Spain.
The only other Indian motorbike team that’s managed to make its presence in MotoGP happens to be supported by Anand Mahindra — it recently took third spot in the Moto3 World Championship in Sepang. It’s a pity that these successes have found little mention while so much attention is given to the vagaries of fortune faced by India’s F1 team supported by Vijay Mallya and Subroto Roy. With the way things stand, perhaps we’ll see Mahindra Racing Team and Mahi Racing Team (talk about similar names!) grabbing both top spots in the same race. Wouldn’t that be an absolute scream?
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