A Rs 2.5 Crore Scholarship, That Could Be Gamechanger For Indian Motorsports

"I wish these scholarships were there in my time," says the first sportsperson from Motorsports to win the prestigious Arjuna Award three years back in 2019. He spoke to NDTV at a function where JK Tyre was celebrating its completion of four decades of motorsport journey in India. The company announced a new scholarship program of Rs 2.5 crore. This initiative will select up to 5 young athletes, including a girl, and provide them with a chance to groom their career in motorsport on international platforms.

Speaking about the new program, Mr. Sanjay Sharma, Head of Motorsports, JK Tyre said, "JK Tyre has always been at the forefront of promoting motorsports in India. With an aim to give the young talent the much-needed push, we have announced this scholarship program which will select kids from across categories and provide them with a chance to bring in laurels by representing the nation on international platforms. It will not be a 100% scholarship for talented kids. In fact, the kids will also be trained to raise funds for their future races."

17-year-old Amir Sayed from Kottayam has been declared the first recipient of this new scholarship program. He demonstrated his mettle at the JK Tyre Novice Cup Champion in 2020 by winning all 12 races of the season. With support from JK Tyre Motorsport, Amir will participate in the French F4 Championship this year.

Amir will join several other recipients from before who were nurtured by the company's other scholarship programs, like Arjun Maini, Kush Maini, Yash Aradhya, Akhil Rabindra, Sneha Sharma, and Mira Erde. They are now all racing abroad.

The experts in the field laud the growing Indian pool of budding racers. Mr. Sanjay Sharma says, "The nice thing is that the age group