Porush Jain

Sunday, 20. December 2009 - Harmit Singh Kamboe

Porush Jain represents the new face of India and its sporting culture that is undergoing a sea change.

In urban India at least, as pure economic survival is no longer the main purpose of life, the sporting culture is increasingly taking hold.

Porush, an alumni of Infosys is pursuing his passion of sports, while a decade ago the pressure on someone like him to stick to a safe job would have been immense and made such an approach impossible.


Interview with Porush Jain, founder of sportskeeda.com


Harmit: Please tell us about your family, where you were born, where you grew up and your childhood interests. Was sports a bigger part of your life than your friends as you grew up?

Porush: I was born in Delhi and brought up in Noida. My dad has his small business of distribution. I did my schooling from D.P.S. Noida, and most of my childhood was spent in Sector-14 Noida.
Well Sports was a big part in my life. I played hockey till my junior classes, street cricket ate up good chunk of my childhood and now I have come to love Table tennis. I have tried almost every game but master of none.


Harmit: Please tell us about your higher education and did your interest in sports change from the time when you were young?

Porush: I Did my B.tech in Mechatronics from SASTRA University in Tamil Nadu. Worked for Infosys for two years and currently I am pursuing my MBA from SIBM Bangalore (symbiosis).

Professionally I was into Robotics in my college days, Mainframes in Infosys, pursuing MBA in marketing from Symbiosis and now I wish to settle into Sports.

My inclination towards sports has not changed and I am fortunate enough to combine my professional life and my passion.


Harmit: How, when and why did you come up with the idea of sportskeeda.com?

Porush: It all started from T.T. initially. I wanted to start a T.T. club. Then gradually I realized that I will serve myself and the country better with a sports website.

I searched for a proper name for around a year I guess. The day I thought of SportsKeeda.com, I never looked back.


Harmit: Are you satisfied with where the site has come so far? Where do you eventually see sportskeeda.com in a few years? Will this be a full time gig for you or a part time passion that you keep nurturing?

Porush: Not actually, we have made some awesome strides though a lot has to be done. This is just the starting. Well I see it as the go to sports website of India. My aim is to unite all Indian sportizens under one roof.

More that full time. I am working more than 8 hours a day on it.


Harmit: How did you find the other "keedas" or contributors to your site?

Porush: Friends and forums. I see many passionate Keeda were writing on their own wordpress or blogspot blogs. I give them a platform, a community, and proper way to reach out to the masses. Most of them find our website and shoot us an email enquiring how on how to contribute to the website.


Harmit: You have interviewed many Indian sports personalities and written on many sporting events that mainstream Indian media does not report on. What do you think are some of the main reasons why we are such an abysmal failure in global sports? Or are we not a failure but what we get is a reflection of the level of people that manage professional sports in India?

Porush: We are a failure. Though I think this failure though has been orchastrated so much that no one is willing to put his money into Sports in India.
There are several reasons why we are a failure
 
1. The way we are brought up, the pressure to study, get a good job and settle in your life.
2. Lack of government funding and support.
3. Lack of competence in various sports federations of India.


Harmit: In some circles in India, it is fashionable to blame cricket for the failure of all other sports in catching the public imagination? What are your views on this topic?

Porush: The guilty is media, not cricket. I have seen some papers having the cricket page instead of the sports page. How gross an injustice can you do to sports than this? Cricket is the saviour of sports culture in India, media has mistaken it as the only sport!


Harmit: Realistically speaking, if we do not change the fundamental structure of how sports in this country are managed, can we expect dramatically better results on a significant scale in the sporting field as far as India is concerned?

Porush: We need private companies into Sports desperately. We need to bring in professionalism and big ticket tournaments to pump in money into sports The way NBA , NFL or even WWE is doing so successfully in U.S.


Harmit: Have you had any chance to interact with Indian sports bodies, if so, what has your impression been as far as their commitment, technical capabilities and ability to break conventional mindsets and barriers is concerned?

Porush: I have interacted, though I don't know the finer details.


Harmit: Prior to this interview, had you come across IndianFootball.Com? Your thoughts on our website please.

Porush: I have been reading the website for some time now. One thing I really like is the Fantasy game section in the website. I wish you can take Indian football to the next level, my best wishes.


Harmit: Many thanks for taking the time to interact with us!