Indian entertainment and esports media company NODWIN Gaming has launched NODWIN Sports, a new business vertical tasked with developing mainstream athletic properties, mass-participation fitness events, and institutional advisory operations across India and the broader Global South.
The launch marks a strategic expansion for the Nazara Technologies subsidiary as it seeks to extend its commercial capabilities beyond competitive gaming and digital youth culture into traditional sporting ecosystems.
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The new vertical will be headed by former Adidas India sports marketing lead Gurbaksh Singh Virdi, who joins NODWIN Gaming as Vice President. Virdi brings multi-sport commercial and operational experience across athlete management, rights activation, and event operations from previous roles at Red Bull, Puma, Cornerstone, and U Sports. According to a press release, at U Sports he oversaw franchise operations for Pro Kabaddi League team U Mumba and directed youth football programmes alongside German Bundesliga clubs.
NODWIN Sports will structure its operations around four core pillars: creating proprietary mass-participation sports IPs, providing strategic advisory services to sports federations and governing bodies, managing brand and media rights alliances, and delivering end-to-end white-label event execution. The division intends to leverage NODWIN’s existing broadcast, content production, and commercial sponsorship infrastructure, developed through properties such as the Battlegrounds Mobile India Masters Series (BGMS), Comic Con India, and the NH7 Weekender music festival, to bridge traditional sports institutions with younger demographic groups.
Commenting on the market opportunity, Singh Virdi stated: “India’s sports landscape is entering an important phase of evolution, shaped by a new generation of audiences who are experiencing sport across competition, participation, entertainment, content and culture. The ambition is not only to create new opportunities for participation, but to help build the culture around sport for the next decade, one that is more accessible, engaging, contemporary and connected to youth culture.”
Addressing the strategic rationale behind the launch, Akshat Rathee, Co-Founder and Managing Director of NODWIN Gaming, added: “Sport has always had the ability to bring people together at scale, and the way audiences experience sport is changing rapidly. We see an opportunity to build properties that reflect how younger audiences participate, compete, follow and engage with sport today. NODWIN Sports gives us a dedicated platform to work with sporting institutions, athletes, brands and partners to build those opportunities.”
The division will use India as an operational launchpad, with plans to export sports advisory, event execution, and commercial management services across emerging markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
