Gurbaksh Singh Virdi To Lead NODWIN Gaming's New Sports Division
NODWIN Gaming has launched NODWIN Sports and appointed Gurbaksh Singh Virdi as vice president to lead it, taking the youth entertainment company beyond esports and into mainstream sport across India and the Global South.
- Role: vice president, NODWIN Sports
- Most recently: sports marketing lead, Adidas India
- Earlier: Cornerstone, Puma, U Sports and Red Bull
- The new division: sports properties, mass participation and commercial partnerships
Where Gurbaksh Singh Virdi Comes From
Virdi's career covers athlete management, property creation, commercial partnerships and multi-sport operations. At Red Bull he pioneered Red Bull Campus Cricket and worked with athletes across disciplines. At U Sports he led operations for U Mumba in the Pro Kabaddi League, set up the U Dream Football programme with Tata Trusts in Germany alongside Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and TSG Hoffenheim, and started the company's esports vertical.
At Puma he expanded the team sports portfolio. At Cornerstone he led athlete IP development, including work on Virat Kohli's One8 brand, and launched its esports division. As sports marketing lead at Adidas India he covered cricket, running, training, football and motorsport, with partnerships including the BCCI and the Indian Olympic Association. He is also a three-time Ironman 70.3 finisher.
What NODWIN Sports Will Do
The division works across four areas: new-age sports and mass-participation properties, sports advisory and governing body engagement, strategic partnerships and commercial alliances, and white-label execution and operations. It plans active fitness competitions and lifestyle properties built around taking part, alongside partnerships with federations, governing bodies, rights holders and brands.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said the division will build properties around how younger audiences take part in, follow and engage with sport. It draws on the company's portfolio of youth properties, including the BGMI Masters Series, Comic Con India and NH7 Weekender.
The bet is that the playbook behind a gaming tournament or a music festival, community first and content everywhere, carries over to sport that people play rather than only watch. Virdi has worked both sides of that line, from esports verticals to Olympic partnerships. More appointments.