Soon after Dipa Karmakar said that it was difficult to drive and maintain a BMW car in interior Agartala, where she stays, the man who gifted her the car transferred Rs 25 lakh to the Rio Olympics fourth-place finisher's bank account.
Contrary to what people think, the BMW was not given by Sachin Tendulkar, but by V Chamundeshwarnath, a former Andhra batsman.
Chamundi, as his friends call him, has arranged at least 17 vehicles as gifts for several sports achievers.
He is well known in the Hyderabad social circle and has played 44 first-class games. After retirement in 1991/1992, he became a cricket administrator, Team India's manager for the 2009 World T20 and an influential badminton official.
Chamundi also has top corparate links and is a compulsive networker who has close links with Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar, reported The Indian Express.
These links, business and cricketing, are what helped the 57-year-old arrange those four-wheeled gifts to India’s Rio stars – PV Sindhu, P Gopichand, Sakshi Malik and Karmakar.
Initially, only PV Sindhu and Gopichand were supposed to get cars, but later he added Sakshi and Dipa got added to the list.
My friends and I had enough money to gift two BMWs. Sachin helped me by getting a discount from BMW and we were able to hand over the keys of four cars. It was Sachin’s idea to give four cars instead of only two.Chamundi told The Indian Express
Gifitng Cars to Promote Talent
The four cars would have costed him over Rs. 1.25 crore. But for a man who loves to promote talent, has been gifting such vehicles for more than a decade-and-a-half.
He presented a Hyundai Accent to Gopichand when he won the All-England title in 2001. In 2003, when Sania Mirza won the Wimbledon girl’s doubles title, she got a Fiat Palio from Chamundi.
In 2012, Saina Nehwal was given a BMW for her bronze at the London Olympics.
I had promised that if she wins an Olympic medal, Sachin would present her with the keys of a BMW, too. The idea of getting Sachin to present cars is to motivate athletes to do better.Chamundi told The Indian Express
Kidambi Srikanth, badminton World No 10, was given a Ford Ecosport when he beat the legendary Lin Dan to win the China Super Series event.
He and Tendulkar had contributed Rs 1 crore to cash incentives for India’s Para-Olympians recently.
Controversies
Chamundi was removed as the secretary of the Andhra Cricket Association in 2009, following allegations of the financial wrong-doing. He was also named in a sexual harassment case by a group of women cricketers.
“Those cases are over, all that was done by my rivals in the cricket association,” he said.
Chamundi, then co-owned the Indian Badminton League team, Mumbai Masters and now holds dual posts of Hyderabad Badminton Association president and Telangana Badminton Association vice-president.
I don’t have any business interests currently. I am a former sportsperson and now a sports administrator and like to promote talent. Not many people know this, but when Saina didn’t have funds to travel abroad for a tournament as a 12-year-old, I gave her a cheque of Rs 25,000. I gave Mithali Raj a Chevrolet car even before she became the Indian women’s cricket team captain.Chamundi
(Source: The Indian Express)