MUMBAI: Well known for its premium properties, the Kanakia Group has taken one more step toward promoting and supporting Indian athletes. The Group has recently associated with Kiran Kumar Raju - a two time Mountain Bike (MTB) Indian National champion for his Olympic endeavours.
The Bengaluru born cyclist is one of the top MTB cyclists in India with umpteen laurels and achievements under his belt. To support and promote this lesser-known sport in India, Kanakia Group has decided to associate with Raju.
From giving up a well-settled civil engineering job in the real estate industry to taking up his passion for cycling, Raju has been pedalling since 2015 as a full-time professional cyclist. He has participated in over 150 races till date with maximum wins across Road races, MTB and Duathlons. After representing the country at the Asian Continental Championship in 2017 and 2018, he has an eye on the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
He started his journey by participating in local races and landed third in an MTB race in Sarjapur. "Road racing is about power. You need to be technically sound and skilful on the bike to navigate rocky terrains, 3-4 feet drops and difficult weather conditions. There is no room for error and you have to stay focused throughout the trail," said Raju, who loves challenging difficult tracks from the mountain terrains to the straight road races.
"My vision is to create a lot of awareness about cycling as a recognised sport in India and would like to support promising talents like Kiran Kumar Raju in their quest for representing India at International Championships," said Rasesh Kanakia, chairman of Kanakia Group, himself a passionate cyclist. With this great step, Kanakia Group looks forward to building a community of talented cyclists from all over the country and promote the sport at the international level.
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