Actor and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty has picked up a minority stake in Pro Panja League, a professional arm-wrestling tournament launched by celebrity couple Parvin Dabas and Preeti Jhangiani through their company Panja Sports.
“I am on board with Pro Panja League as an equity partner at the group level,” Shetty told ET. “My shareholding will be in the single digits.”
Pro Panja League was founded in 2020. The inaugural season of the tournament, featuring six teams, kicked off on July 28 at the IGI Stadium in New Delhi. The tournament is being telecast on Sony Sports channels, while Dream Sports-owned FanCode is live-streaming it.
Shetty, who has invested in multiple startups, said arm wrestling has massive potential in India since it’s an indigenous grassroots sport with a very low entry barrier and is TV-friendly.
“Arm wrestling is truly an Indian sport in which both men and women can participate,” Shetty said. “The infrastructure required for the sport is very minimal. It is also a TV-friendly sport. It will generate a lot of excitement because the results are guaranteed.”
Dabas said Shetty’s association with Pro Panja League will be a draw for the public. “We are marrying sports and entertainment with the Pro Panja League,” he said.
According to Dabas, Panja Sports will invest Rs 20 crore in the league in the first two years.
The first year will be more about capturing viewers’ attention than generating revenue, he said. “We want to establish the league in the first year. Big-ticket sponsors will come in once the league has enough eyeballs,” Dabas said.
He also said that Pro Panja League franchise owners will break even in the third or fourth year, since the cash burn is very low. Each franchise owner will have to invest Rs 2.25-2.5 crore every year.
Dabas said the league had already built a strong online community. “We had 270 million views on our social media channels in the last 10 months,” he said.
Panja Sports aims to organise standalone tournaments throughout the year to build the sport at the grassroots level.
