#032: Prasad Mangipudi on Building a World-Class Sports Ecosystem in India

Prasad Mangipudi is one of the top sports development and marketing minds in India. Prasad is the Managing Director of Sportzlive - a company primarily focused on investing and creating Sports IPRs in the Indian sub-continent market, and is a Mentor Director with the Hyderabad Hydras, a premier esports & lifestyle organisation. Prasad is one of the brains behind the Premier Badminton League, making India's official badminton league the world's #1 badminton league in just 5 years. After 26 years of rich experience of across sectors - advertising, hospitality, marketing, tourism, sports events, and healthcare - with organisations like Lowe Lintas, Sterling Holiday Resorts, Greyhound Marketing, LifeCell International, Aurobindo Pharma and Mylan Labs, Prasad finally found his calling card in the field of sports. In this episode, Prasad talks to Swami about why India has to look beyond its favorite sport, cricket, in its ambition to become a sports superpower. Prasad stresses on the fact that sports builds character and why we must make our youngsters play, play and play. Prasad also talks about his experience building a world-class academy with Pullela Gopichand, India’s biggest badminton star, touches upon how to groom high-class coaches and the need to support players who do not reach the peak of their game.