The ex-cricketer who turns heads with his gifts to sportstars
Indian women’s cricket captain Mithali Raj was handed over the keys of a brand new BMW at a function held in the city earlier this week.
Though those in attendance stood up and roundly applauded Raj for her team’s exploits at the recently concluded World Cup, sharing the spotlight was also the person behind the expensive present: Vankenna Chamundeshwaranath.
Better known as Chamundi to friends, 58-year-old Chamundeshwaranath has made heads turn with his habit of gifting swanky cars to sportspersons of repute. At last count, he has given 18 luxury cars to eminent sports personalities since 2001.
A cricketer in his younger days who represented undivided Andhra Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy and currently the vice-president of the Telangana Badminton Association, Chamundeshwaranath says his gifts are just to repay his debt to sports.
“First, I am a sportsman. Whatever I am today is because of my association with sports. So, I want to give back something to sports by gifting luxury cars to young achievers, so as to encourage others,” he told HT.
His gifting spree began in 2001 when he presented a Hyundai Accent to Pullela Gopichand after he won the All England Badminton championship. In 2003, he gave a Fiat Palio to Sania Mirza after she won the Wimbledon Women’s Doubles title.
Chamundeshwaranath hogged the headlines last year when he gifted BMWs to shuttler PV Sindhu, wrestler Sakshi Malik and gymnast Dipa Karmakar following their grand showing in the Olympics. Sachin Tendulkar is a friend and the cricket legend gave away the keys amid a blaze of publicity.
He had incidentally given Mithali Raj a car in the past. “I gave her a Chevrolet in 2007 ...” he says. When not giving cars, Chamundeshwaranath gives cash awards to sports people. Last October, he contributed ₹50 lakh to be given to four India Rio Paralympics medal winners.
His extravagant gifts have opened him up to probing questions. He has also come under the Income Tax (I-T) department scanner once for his association with Mohammad Azharuddin, the former Indian cricket captain with alleged links to a match-fixing scandal.
But Chamundeshwaranath insists his intentions are noble and his money clean. “God has blessed me with sufficient money and I love to spend the same on encouraging sportsperson,” he says. Hailing from a rich family of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh which apparently owns huge parcels of fertile land, Chamundeshwaranath is a co-owner of the Indian Badminton League fanchise Mumbai Masters.
But his links with sports has not been entirely bereft of blemish. In 2009, he faced accusations of sexually harassing a group of women cricketers.
The complaint was later withdrawn.