InterMiles Brings Next-Gen Shopping Experience Home With An All-New Marketplace ‘Digi Stores’

* Aims to become a one-stop online to offline commerce platform, by offering members a wide range of saving and rewards options across 200+ brands~

* Members can avail store-cards, deals, discounts and rewards which will help fund their future aspirations including flight tickets, hotel stays and exclusive dining experiences~

InterMiles, a leading loyalty and rewards programme, recently introduced their e-commerce marketplace – Digi Stores. The marketplace houses rewards, options to save with Miles, vouchers and raffles, along with massive deals and discounts across a broadened partner ecosystem. With the added choice and flexibility, Digi Stores allows for a shopping experience that is seamless, memorable and empowers InterMiles members to do more, earn more and save more.

For the first time in India, deals and discounts on Digi Stores can be availed of in real-time, while shopping at offline or online stores. Members can secure exclusive deals across 80+ partners, get access to vouchers across 100+ brands such as Amazon and Myntra instantly, earn and redeem Miles on brands or stores of their choice, win exciting products every week and enjoy smart savings via Digi Stores. All of this, plus additional, assured savings of 5% on every purchase as members also have the option of choosing Save with Miles as an option while purchasing a voucher.

Commenting on the newly launched platform, Mr. Vikas Chandak, SVP & Head – Strategic Businesses, Financial Products, Partnerships & Alliances, InterMiles said, “This digital marketplace is a leap forward for the program, as we introduce an integrated ‘Earn-Redeem & Save with Miles’ shopping experience, wherein members get to shop at a brand of their choice - online or offline - and pay in a currency of their choice – be it Miles or Cash, thus benefiting from every purchase.

We are also among the first to bridge the O2O (Online to Offline) retail proposition. With Digi Stores, our members can purchase vouchers on the InterMiles app and use them real-time in physical stores. Every purchase becomes beneficial as they either earn miles or use their miles to get great discounts.

We intend for Digi Stores to become the preferred shopping route for the next generation shoppers (within our member base), who actively seek out the best deals and discounts, and look to earn & benefit from every spend,” he added.

As part of the launch of Digi Stores, the programme has rolled out a wide array of digital offerings, including gift vouchers across 100+ partners, daily and weekly raffles to win electronics, merchandise and digital vouchers, and 80+ deals.

QuEST Global Reinforces Leadership Position In Zinnov Zones ER&D & IoT Services Ratings

* Strong growth in Digital Engineering, AI Engineering, Enterprise Software, Semiconductor, and Medical Devices cements the company's leadership position

QuEST Global, a product engineering and lifecycle services company, said it had reinforced its leadership position in the Zinnov Zones – Engineering and R&D and IoT Services 2020 ratings, owing to strong growth in digital engineering, AI engineering, enterprise software, semiconductor, and medical devices domains. The recognition by Zinnov is a testament to QuEST's capability to be the trusted thinking partner to customers by solving some of the toughest engineering problems they face in creating new products, opening new markets, and maximizing efficiency.

In the ER&D services rating, Zinnov has recognized the leadership capabilities of QuEST in some of the most essential industries such as semiconductor, medical devices, enterprise software, industrial, automotive, and aerospace. Zinnov has placed QuEST in the expansive and established leadership zone for digital engineering, AI engineering, and IoT services for its robust presence and excellence in these domains.

Zinnov published the ER&D and IoT Services reports after evaluating around 60 global engineering service providers across major industry segments. Criteria such as product development capabilities, innovation, client relationships, eco-system linkages, scalability, depth and maturity of engineering services, and specialization were evaluated.

"QuEST has continued to accelerate its growth trajectory, strengthening its leadership position in Zinnov Zones 2020 - Engineering and R&D services and IoT Technology Services ratings. The firm's wide breadth of capabilities across product engineering and lifecycle in verticals such as Semiconductor, Medical Devices, and Industrial has helped the firm strengthen its leadership positioning. QuEST's investments and offerings in new-age areas such as Digital Engineering, AI engineering poise it to grow further and enhance its market positioning for ER&D services," said Sidhant Rastogi, Managing Partner & Practice Head, Zinnov.

Commenting on this achievement, Ajit Prabhu, Chairman & CEO, QuEST Global, said, "We are delighted to be recognized by Zinnov as a leader in ER&D and IoT Services ratings. This reflects our engineers' hunger and aspiration to enable customers to 'Create the Frontier' by advancing the ways people travel, live, work, and engage with each other. During these times of the pandemic, our diversification strategy has helped us grow business and strengthen our presence in hi-tech and medical devices verticals. Growing at this pace, we are sure we will continue to build an organization that will last for generations to come."

QuEST has been working with the world's most recognized companies across diverse verticals, helping them address the growing demand to provide connected engineering experiences to the end consumers. Over the past two decades, the company has been helping industry leaders and challengers to identify problems, proactively create innovative solutions, and make products safer and more reliable in today's digital age. Through its integrated local-global delivery approach and ability to leverage the convergence of mechanical, software, electronics, and digital engineering innovations, QuEST has been catering to customers' emerging needs and delighting them with best-in-class engineering solutions.

SS Innovations Launches SSI Mantra, A Medical Robotics Surgery System In Indian Market

 

Despite decades of successful robotic-assisted surgeries globally that have positively impacted millions of patients, the access is scarce at large. The dominant current robotic system is expensive and associated with a steep learning curve, resulting in the limited availability across the world of over six billion population.

Taking this up as a challenge and leading with a vision to offer minimally invasive robotic surgery solutions, Dr. Sudhir P. Srivastava  and his team launched SSI MANTRA (Multi-Arm Novel Tele Robotic Assistance) Surgical Robotic System, with a live demonstration, in New Delhi, today. The event marked the presence of national media at the launch alongside attendance from dignitaries like Amitabh Kant, CEONitiAyogvia web-conferencing.

“Robotics shall be the future of surgery, and myvisionis to create a technologically advanced system that will be cost-effective, easy to use, andcan be applied to all surgical specialities. Thus, benefitting most patients around the world. Compared to conventional surgery, robotic surgery results in smaller incisions, that reduces pain, scarring and leads to quicker recovery.” said Dr. Srivastava, one of the early pioneers in minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery. He has performed over 1,400 robotic cardiac surgical procedures in the expanse of his career as a surgeon. It is his goal to build an affordable surgical robotic system that is easier for surgeons to use and provides easier accessibility for patients around the world.

The MANTRA system was recently utilised for the first in human pilot study at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, where the surgeons successfully completed 18 complex Urology, Gynaecology and General Surgery procedures in less than a month. Present at the launch event, Dr. Sudhir Rawal, Medical Director RGCI added,“The dedicated team of engineers and scientists at SS Innovations have been working hard under Dr. Srivastava's guidance for the past few years to develop a cost-effective robotic surgical system. I congratulate them on this launch. I have been closely involved in the clinical trials myself, and the results have been outstanding."

The SSI Mantra surgical robotic system can be utilised for all major surgical specialities including Urology, General Surgery, Gynaecology, Thoracic, Cardiac, and Head & Neck Surgery. 

The SSI Mantra System shall additionally have automated enabling technologies for coronary bypass and valve operations.

DISCLAIMER: The MANTRA system is currently not available for sale in the market.

About Dr. Sudhir. P. Srivastava

Popularly known as a Leader in Robotic Cardiac Surgery by International media, Dr. Srivastavais a specialist and pioneer in minimally invasive coronary artery bypass robotic surgery. Dr. Srivastavahas performed over 1400 robotic cardiothoracic surgeries including over 750 beating heart Totally Endoscopic Coronary Artery Bypass (TECAB) procedures, that represents the largest experience in the world.  In addition to having performed many world’s first TECAB procedures and while serving as an Assistant Professor and Director of Cardiac Robotic Surgery at the esteemed University of Chicago, Dr. Srivastava performed the world’s first quadruple bypass surgery on a beating heart in a totally closed chest approach utilising surgical robotic assistance.

Having received his medical degree at J.L.N. Medical College in Rajasthan, he completed his residency in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Srivastavawas the Founding Chairman for  Alliance Hospital, a centre of excellence in Cardiovascular Disease in West Texas.  Additionally, he was the Founder President of the International College of Robotic Surgery in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2011, he returned to his motherland, India and launched the International Centrefor Robotic Surgery in New Delhi.  Dr. Srivastava has been a highly sought after and inspirational speaker at many international scientific meetings in the field of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

It was his passion to expand less traumatic, minimally invasive surgical techniques that drove him to teach and train over 350 teams globally in robotic coronary bypass procedures. This mission itself was the inspiration for Dr. Srivastava and his team that resulted in the development of Multi-Arm Novel Tele Robotic Assistance, "Mantra" Surgical Robotic System.

About SS Innovations

SS Innovations was established by its founder Dr. Sudhir Srivastava in 2016 with the goal of providing an advanced, cost-effective surgical robotic system. SS Innovations is improving the quality of robotic surgical systems. Founder and CEO, Dr. Sudhir Srivastava, has made it his personal mission to find ways to improve accessibility to robotic surgical procedures through the union of clinical experience, patient outreach, and technology development. At SS Innovations, research and development are advanced with a focus on patients, across the world, benefitting from new technologies.

The company has already raised over 300 Crores (USD 40 Million) in the last 3 years and plans to launch the next round of funding with the goal to raise between 700 to 1000 Crores (USD 100-150 Million) to help establish the manufacturing, assembly, infrastructure and clinical support for its global launch that will be starting from India.

The company's India headquarters are currently located in the Andhra Pradesh Medical Technology Zone (AMTZ), Visakhapatnam, AP.  AMTZ is the first medical device technology park in India for the "Make in India" initiative from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  The company has a team of highly talented engineers, the majority of whom are from India, additionally, several world renown pioneers in the field of robotic surgical technology from around the world are associated with SS Innovations.

LTI USD Revenues Grow 5.8% QoQ And 8.5% YoY; Net Profit Up By 37.9% YoY

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (BSE code: 540005, NSE: LTI), a global technology consulting and digital solutions company, announced its Q3 FY21 results today.

In US Dollars:

▪ Revenue at USD 427.8 million; increase of 5.8% QoQ and 8.5% YoY

▪ Constant Currency Revenue increase of 5.3% QoQ and 7.4% YoY

In Indian Rupees:

▪ Revenue at INR 31,528 million; increase of 5.1% QoQ and growth of 12.2% YoY

▪ Net Income at INR 5,193 million; increase of 13.7% QoQ and growth of 37.9% YoY

“We are pleased to deliver a strong quarter with 5.8% QoQ growth in USD revenues. This has been driven by healthy growth momentum across our portfolio. We continue to see strong demand for cloud-based IT solutions. Our tier 1 level partnership with the hyperscalers enables us to work closely on client outcomes and go-to-market opportunities.

We are happy to announce two large deals with cumulative net new TCV of USD 278 million. We remain focused on building and scaling differentiated capabilities. A healthy deal pipeline and sustained client mining make us optimistic about the future,” says Sanjay Jalona, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director.

Recent Deal Wins

-  A UAE-based leader in digital transformation has selected LTI as its partner of choice to provide infrastructure and application operations support and maintenance for its existing and new customers. As part of the deal, LTI will also partner with end customers on their journey to cloud and transform operations to bring in best-shoring and automation.

-  A Global Fortune 500 energy company has chosen LTI as its primary partner for an application managed services agreement to create and consolidate a business-aligned IT services delivery platform across the organization and reduce total cost of ownership.

-  A company located in the U.S providing leading data-driven marketing, loyalty & payment solutions has selected LTI for customer-centric digital transformation initiatives to enhance customer experience, brand reputation, customer acquisition and retention and reduction in costs by virtue of streamlined operations.

-  An engineering, construction and mining company located in South East Asia has partnered with LTI to transform its procurement, sales, bidding, contracting and analytics functions using SAP to enable operational excellence, ensure data-driven insights and informed decision making across the organization.

-  LTI executed a license sale agreement for AI, Decisions and Catalog products on its Mosaic platform with a multinational banking and financial services company to bring about efficiency in their reporting with the regulators. Mosaic will serve as a unified data analytics platform enabling consolidation of all credit risk models and will be hosted in a hybrid cloud setup. As a part of the deal, LTI will be a one-stop shop providing the product as well as handling, deploying, integrating and testing services.

-  A leading European financial services firm has chosen LTI to manage its infrastructure operations through a leaner operating model and by leveraging the Mosaic platform to drive automation.

-  A leading commercial property and casualty insurance group based in Canada has selected LTI to consolidate and transform its policy administration systems and processes onto the Duck Creek platform to ensure streamlining of its operations.

-  A U.S. based real estate investment company has chosen LTI for providing application support, maintenance and development services along with key implementation initiatives to drive cost optimization and digital transformation.

Awards and Recognitions

-  LTI Recognized as a Leader in the ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Business – Solutions and Service Partners Report, US 2020

-  LTI Recognized as Leader and Star Performer in Everest Group's Application and Digital Services in Capital Markets PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2021

-  LTI positioned in 'Leaders' Quadrant within NelsonHall's Software Testing: Quality Engineering NEAT 2020

-  LTI Recognized as a Leader in the ISG Provider Lens™ Public Cloud — Solutions and Services Report, Nordics 2020

-  LTI recognized as a Leader in Everest Group Insurance Business Model Innovation Enablement Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2021

Other Business Highlights

-  LTI won in the Outstanding Value Category at the Honda Indirect Procurement Supplier 2020 Awards, US. The outstanding value category acknowledges suppliers providing the most value to Honda by recognizing the total cost of ownership

-  LTI is now an ‘Elite’ level partner of Snowflake, the data cloud company. LTI has also become the maiden partner for Snowcase - a program that Snowflake is launching to develop and market industry-specific solutions to accelerate cloud data transformation journey of enterprises

-  LTI is now a ‘Premier’ level partner of Google Cloud

-  LTI is now a ‘Platinum’ tier partner of IBM

-  LTI has partnered with Temenos to launch a Digital Banking Platform in the Nordic region

-  LTI was ranked among the top 50 companies (Rating ‘A’) in the BW BusinessWorld India rankings for Most Sustainable Companies 2020

About LTI

LTI (NSE: LTI) is a global technology consulting and digital solutions Company helping more than 400 clients succeed in a converging world. With operations in 31 countries, we go the extra mile for our clients and accelerate their digital transformation with LTI’s Mosaic platform enabling their mobile, social, analytics, IoT and cloud journeys. Founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, our unique heritage gives us unrivalled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Each day, our team of more than 30,000 LTItes enable our clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations and deliver value to their customers, employees and shareholders. Find more at http://www.Lntinfotech.com or follow us at @LTI_Global.

Numeric Expands Product Portfolio To Augment Its Growth In 3 Phase UPS; Launches Keor MOD, Award Winning UPS

Numeric, the leading UPS manufacturer and power quality solution provider in India, today announced the launch of the award winning 3 Phase modular UPS, Keor MOD. The product is designed to meet the needs of the IT, ITeS, data center, infrastructure and healthcare industry. 

With the launch of Keor MOD, Numeric steps up its growth plan in the 3 Phase market segment.  Speaking on the side-lines of the launch of Keor MOD, Palash Nandy, CEO, Numeric said “Keor MOD is a testimony to our two main growth pillars – Innovation and Smart solution. We have already gained a strong foothold in the 3 phase segment with our Keor series and this new product will further augment our product offer in the modular segment.” 

He further added “The data localisation policy and the new business normal have put the IT infrastructure on rapid growth gear. While the changing data consumption habits coupled with the burgeoning digital economy has put this sector on fast growth, the much expected 5G roll will further accelerate the growth providing a tremendous opportunity for us to position our wide range of solutions.” 

About Keor MOD, an UPS that is Far more than a UPS With Keor MOD, Numeric is redefining the standards of UPS from a rather dull black UPS to a stylish looking design coupled with performance.  Keor MOD has won the IF Award Design Award in 2019, which is an internationally established symbol for outstanding design achievements.  

Numeric had pioneered the front access concept, with the launch of its Keor series. Continuing the quest to bring innovative products, Keor MOD has a 10” display screen which can rotate inwards to 180°. First to innovate in the industry with this feature, this enables easy access and maintenance. The display screen features an easy to use interactive icon which allows easy navigation. 

The Keor MOD power module is the smallest 25 kW three phase module available in the market. Each power module in Keor MOD is an independent plug and play power module that serves as a three phase UPS with a nominal power of 25 kW in just 2 rack units.  Extensive research and use of latest generation components is behind the development of this three-phase power module with top performance levels in its category, minimising footprints and weights.

 Keor MOD scores high in performance and cost savings. In addition to high reliability and availability its compact footprint saves upto 75% of real estate space in comparison to other products. This gives a very low total cost of  ownership (TCO) for Keor MOD.  Keor MOD offers both scalability and flexibility, up to 20 power modules can be paralleled vertically and horizontally, in maximum up to 4 frames to deliver output of 500kW with redundancy. This directly translates into benefit of initial capital investment and allows customers to add Power modules as per the business growth and demand. 

Keor MOD is also designed to be an environmentally responsible product. Keor MOD comes with a PEP certification. PEP provides credible & transparent info about the constituents of the product. It provides manufacturer & product info, recyclability, environmental impacts during each phase of product life cycle. With the help of PEP, Customers can know the environmental impact of each of the product in their IT infra installations. PEP also help them achieve LEED green building certifications. 

All these features make Keor MOD, an UPS that is Far more than a UPS. Keor MOD is the ideal solution for small and medium data centers and other critical high-computing applications.     

Indian UPS market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of more than 5% by 2023. The increasing demand for power backup across commercial as well as industrial sectors coupled with growing digitalization and government’s smart city initiatives is further expected to push demand for UPS systems across the country in the coming years. 

About Numeric: 

Since 1984, Numeric has been enabling its clients to optimize their business with top notch power solutions that promise seamless and clean power with controlled environmental footprints. Defining Numeric’s vast support ecosystem are 5 world-class manufacturing units, 255+ accessible service locations and 900+ trained field technicians. Being ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and SA 8000:2008 OHSAS 18001:2007 certified fuels our credibility further. Being part of Legrand Group since 2012, Numeric is now truly a GLOCAL company – ‘global’ expertise with deep ‘local’ market knowledge. 

With this knowledge, Numeric has succeeded in building a credible clientele base spread across different domains like BFSI, Government, Telecom, Healthcare, IT/ITES, Datacentres, Process Industries and SOHO. Apart from being the leading UPS manufacturer, it is Numeric’s consistent endeavour to be partners in our clients’ success stories. 

Tenable’s Analysis Of Data Breaches In 2020 Reveals Over 22 Billion Records Exposed

Analysis of breach data by Tenable’s Security Response Team (SRT) has revealed that, from January through October 2020, there were 730 publicly disclosed events resulting in over 22 billion records exposed worldwide. Thirty five percent of  breaches analyzed by Tenable were linked to ransomware attacks, resulting in tremendous financial cost, while 14% of breaches were the result of email compromises. One of the overarching themes of the threat landscape in 2020 was that threat actors relied on unpatched vulnerabilities in their attacks as well as chaining together multiple vulnerabilities as part of their attacks. This analysis has been published in Tenable’s 2020 Threat Landscape Retrospective (TLR) report which provides an overview of the key vulnerabilities disclosed or exploited in the 12 months ending December 31, 2020.

As organizations around the world prepare to face the new cybersecurity challenges looming in 2021, it’s crucial to pause and take a look back at the most critical vulnerabilities and risks from the past year. Understanding which enterprise systems are affected by the year’s vulnerabilities can help organizations understand which flaws represent the greatest risk. 

From 2015 to 2020, the number of reported common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) increased at an average annual percentage growth rate of 36.6%. In 2020, 18,358 CVEs were reported, representing a 6% increase over the 17,305 reported in 2019, and a 183% increase over the 6,487 disclosed in 2015. Prioritizing which vulnerabilities warrants attention is more challenging than ever. Two notable trends from the report are:

Pre-existing vulnerabilities in virtual private network (VPN) solutions — many of which were initially disclosed in 2019  Cr earlier — continue to remain a favorite target for cybercriminals and nation-state groups.

Web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge are the primary target for zero-day  vulnerabilities, accounting for over 35% of all zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in the wild.

Fixing unpatched vulnerabilities, implementing strong security controls for remote desktop protocol, ensuring endpoint security is up-to-date and regularly performing security awareness training are steps organizations can take to thwart some of these attacks. 

“Every day, cybersecurity professionals in India and the rest of the world are faced with new challenges and vulnerabilities that can put their organisations at risk. The 18,358 vulnerabilities disclosed in 2020 alone reflects a new normal and a clear sign that the job of a cyber defender is only getting more difficult as they navigate the ever-expanding attack surface,” said Satnam Narang, Staff Research Engineer at Tenable. “A complex threat landscape, highly motivated threat actors and readily available exploit code translate into serious cyber attacks as reflected in this report. Many of the tactics used by bad actors are not sophisticated or didn’t require flexing too many mental muscles - making it more important than ever to patch vulnerabilities in a timely manner.”

“To adapt in a digital and distributed world, every industry sector and business model is reliant on technology. Hence, pausing for a retrospective provides cybersecurity professionals with an important opportunity to identify gaps and refine strategies to make their organisations more secure. In 2021, it’s essential that we have the tools, awareness and intelligence to effectively reduce risk and eliminate blind spots. It’s only through looking at where we’ve come from that we can effectively plan for what lies ahead,” he added.

Throughout the year, Tenable’s Security Response Team tracks and reports on vulnerabilities and security incidents, providing guidance to security professionals as they plan their response strategies. The team’s work gives them the opportunity to closely observe the ever-changing dynamics of the threat landscape. 

Note to editor:

Report methodology — This report was compiled based on Tenable’s analysis of:

Events over the course of 2020

Information from advisories published by U.S. government agencies 

Publicly available breach data from national and local news outlets, reporting on data breaches from January through October 2020.

You can find the full report available for download here, with key stats and 9 top takeaways summarised on pages 4-5. If  you’re interested in more detail on the report findings, Satnam Narang is available for a chat.

About Tenable

Tenable Inc. is a Cyber Exposure company. With over 30,000 organizations including more than 50 percent of the Fortune 500, more than 30 percent of the Global 2000 and large government agencies, the Tenable platform caters to the breadth of  visibility into cyber risk across IT, Cloud, IoT and OT environments and the depth of analytics to measure and communicate cyber risk in business terms to make better strategic decisions. Tenable has also extended its expertise in vulnerabilities by creating Nessus, to deliver the world’s first platform to see and secure any digital asset on any computing platform.

KKFI, Ultimate Kho Kho Introduces Scientific Training For Players

 

While the sporting world is still trying to find ways to make a comeback fully after the coronavirus outbreak, the Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI) along with Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK) is all set to uplift the skillset of its players with the introduction of a revolutionary High-Performance Assessment and Scientific Analysis & Evaluation Programme--“Rise in Sports Excellence”—for the very first time.

During a rigorous camp of almost a month, scheduled from January 18 to February 16, 138 players, including 18 women players, will be monitored by vastly experienced experts at Manav Rachna Sports Science Centre in Faridabad and SGT University in Gurugram to develop a pool of athletes who are assessed, scientifically monitored and transformed to become champions of the game.    

The Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju along with Rajeev Mehta General Secretary, IOA and popular sporting personalities like India’s individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar, only Indian to win consecutive Olympic medals, and top cricketers Suresh Raina and Mohammed Shami were present on Tuesday to inaugurate the coaching camp, where Kho Kho players have been selected from across the country for one of its kind scientific evaluation program.

The state of art expertise of the country’s top sports-tech institutes—Manav Rachna Sports Science Centre and SGT University, have been roped in to roll out this mammoth initiative.

“I have always believed sports science is the future of sports. To make India a sporting powerhouse, each sport needs to be developed, especially indigenous sports like Kho Kho which is a speed-reliant sport. The federation and Ultimate Kho Kho have done a commendable job in putting together such an exhaustive plan in such a short time. I congratulate Sudhanshuji (Mittal) as well as Amit Burman ji for lending their support. Indian sports need the backing of corporates and the presence of Amit ji surely is a step in the right direction,” said the Sports Minister Rijiju.

A 30-day camp will see players being monitored and analysed. The findings and parameters ranging from sports physiotherapy, rehabilitation, injury management, biomechanics, biokinetics, sports performance analysis, nutritional guidance and posture corrections will be put into action. The training will also mark the resumption of the sport after almost a 10-month gap. This training is compartmentalised in three phases—transition, preparatory and competitive one.  

“I would like to thank our Sports Minister, Mr Kiren Rijiju for coming here today and motivating the players. This camp will be a milestone for Sports Science and Technology in developing our players in many ways and am grateful for the support towards development by the Ministry, Sports Authority of India and Ultimate Kho Kho, our partners in this vision development. Our motive will be to create a large pool of players who can be developed into world-beaters and game ready for the upcoming challenges,” KKFI President Sudhanshu Mittal said.

The Ultimate Kho Kho has been instrumental in investing and developing this home-grown sport. Close to 200 crores investment commitment has been made by the league promoter and Dabur group Chairman, Amit Burman for the next five years. While a major share of the investment is focused on the growth and development of grassroots and initiation of this scientific programme will help to build excellence which is key for any sport and its growth, globally.

“I have always focused on thinking ahead of time and developing and promoting ideas into brands. Ultimate Kho Kho is no different as we envision excellence at the grassroots and take the game to the next level. For the game to develop it is key that we introduce technology and upgrade and tap the potentials of our players, make them champions and world beaters, backed with high performance training,” UKK Promoter Amit Burman said.

Adding on the innovations, Tenzing Niyogi, CEO, Ultimate Kho Kho said: “Kho Kho has a deep cultural connect with a massive fan base. Ultimate Kho Kho with its latent demand holds the promise of a blockbuster league. With the influx of sports science changing the dynamics of training in team sports, this camp will help develop the athletes to transform and become champions of the game. During the camp we are also planning to test a new sports technology for tag sports in order to bring ‘edge of the seat’ action for audiences.”

An exhibition match was played where sports celebrities were teamed up with the Kho Kho players as the teams rolled out the fast-paced format which played under the revamped rules that are to be introduced during the Kho Kho league, slated for end of the year. The culmination of the camp will see players participating in a five-day tournament consisting of eight teams divided into two pools where players’ speed and gameplay will also be tested along with agility and strength conditionings.