Bluesport Entertainment, the official license holders of the upcoming Premier Handball League (PHL), will invest Rs 240 crore over the next five years on development of the sport and it’s ecosystem in the country.

The company has also brought on board entrepreneurs Vivek Lodha and Abhinav Banthia as strategic investors.

The company will use the funding to accelerate the growth of both men’s and women’s handball in India in the next five years, providing it with a much-needed boost not just at elite level but also at the grassroots.

“Investment as well as having the right people as partners is key to developing any sport. Apart from creating a professional handball league and its marketing, we are also looking at a holistic approach to develop the sport at the grass root level through various strategic collaborations and customised programs especially curated to train the players, coaches as well as upgrading the handball infrastructure in India,” said Manu Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder, Bluesport Entertainment.

The company has already acquired the rights for both men’s and women’s leagues in India for the next 10 years.

While it plans to invest Rs 120 crore each for the men’s and women’s games, almost Rs 35 crore of the planned amount will be spend for the grassroots development, nurturing and training junior and sub-junior talents in the country as well as well as implementing a structured program to help local coaches acquire international standards.

It will also provide necessary international exposure and foreign training opportunities to the Indian players through the league.

“The business acumen of Vivek and Abhinav and our vision to revolutionise this fastest Olympics sport in India under the guidance of the Handball Federation of India are some of the reasons that ensured the board to go ahead with this investment,” he added.

Handball is a popular and much followed sport globally and with a large youth population in India, there has been a steady rise in the appetite for new age sports.

Agrawal said that the company will be using 25% of the funding in promoting handball across the country, tapping the interest while 15% of it will go into developing the infrastructure which, he feels, will be the key factor in the growth of the sport in India.

“In the next five years we not only want to change the way handball is being played or perceived in the country but also to make the PHL a commercially viable product. We expect 33% growth in terms of compound annual growth rate and believe both the men’s and women’s leagues are capable of recovering the investment and turning profitable by the end of their respective third seasons,” Agrawal added.

The inaugural edition of the franchise-based PHL is scheduled to take place next year.

Played across 190 countries, handball has immense popularity in India at the grassroots level with more than 85,000 registered players currently. It is one of the few sports where female players match the competitiveness of their male counterparts and it also demands a great physical fitness.