Rio Olympics: Indian athletes get life insurance cover of Rs 1 crore

New Delhi, April 23: In a first of its kind move, the Olympics-bound Indian athletes were today presented life insurance cover worth Rs one crore even as the Indian Olympic Association roped in three sponsors in its quest for financial independence.

Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance of financial conglomerate Edelweiss Group, which will be the principal sponsor of the Indian contingent at Rio Olympics, today offered a life Insurance cover of Rs 1 crore for each athlete representing India at the Rio Olympics.

"We are happy to announce that each of the athletes who will represent India in Rio Olympics will be given a life insurance cover of Rs 1 crore," Edelweiss Financial Services Executive Director Rujan Panjwani said at an event to announce Bollywood actor Salman Khan as brand ambassador of the Indian contingent for Rio Olympics.

IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta hoped that the Edelweiss Group will continue to provide the life insurance cover to future Olympics also.

"We have discussed this (life insurance for future Olympians) and they are positive about this. I hope they continue to provide life insurance cover to Indian athletes in future Olympics," Mehta told PTI.

Besides Edelweiss, which will be the principal sponsor, the IOA also roped in sporting goods company Li Ning as the apparel partner and Herba Life as the nutrition partner.

"We have roped in three sponsors for the Indian Olympic contingent. This has set the ball rolling in our quest for the financial independence of the IOA and to sell IOA as a brand. This will allow the IOA to realise its dream of giving more funds to the NSFs and the athletes so that they can win more medals in the Olympics," IOA President N Ramachandran said.

IOA's official marketing agency IOS Sports and Entertainment helped it in finding the official partners.

PTI