Journey so far

The Foundation for Participative Sports, operating as the Sports and Society Accelerator (SSA), was established in early 2022 by its co-founders, Nandan Kamath and Desh Gaurav Sekhri.

SSA is a public-spirited, independent, not-for-profit organisation working to strengthen the role of sport and physical activity in society. It was created as an ecosystem enabler, bringing together stakeholders across government, civil society, philanthropy, academia, sport, health, education, and community development to advance a more participative and outcomes-oriented approach to sport and physical activity in India.

From its inception, SSA has focused on access, participation, and long-term societal outcomes. Its work recognises sport and physical activity as drivers of health, inclusion, learning, social development, and economic value. Through policy engagement, research, partnerships, convening, and capacity building, SSA has supported governments, institutions, and ecosystem actors in shaping frameworks, strengthening systems, and enabling sustained participation across communities.

In 2025, SSA was recognised as a National Sports Promotion Organisation by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. This recognition marked an important milestone in SSA’s journey and reaffirmed its role in contributing to India’s evolving sports and physical activity ecosystem.

As part of its systems-based, policy-to-practice approach, SSA incubated the Sports and Physical Activity Centre (SAPA Centre) in 2025. The SAPA Centre was developed to advance research, standards, measurement, policy support, and implementation pathways for a stronger and more coordinated SAPA ecosystem.

SSA continues to function as an independent ecosystem convener, working to shape suitable and sustainable outcomes for sport and physical activity in India. Its journey reflects a commitment to building a more active, inclusive, capable, and confident India, where movement, play, and sport are recognised as essential to individual well-being and national development.

Co-Founders

Desh Gaurav Sekhri

Co-Founder

Nandan Kamath

Co-Founder

Founders' Circle

Ashish Dhawan

Ajit Isaac

Institutional Partnerships

Board of Advisors

Dr. Sekhar Bonu

Former Director General

Dr. Sekhar Bonu, Former Director General, Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office, NITI Aayog – Dr Sekhar Bonu’s expertise spans across many sectors. Before joining NITI Aayog, he worked at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from 2004 to 2019, where he worked on health, urban infrastructure development and regional cooperation, mainly in the South Asia region.

Dr Bonu worked in the Indian Administrative Services and served as a civil servant in Rajasthan between 1987-2003, including as a district magistrate, director of primary and secondary education, and chief executive officer of state-owned enterprises. He has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University and has a research interest in state capacity building, service delivery, outcomes measurements, etc.

Rukmini Banerji

CEO, Pratham

Rukmini Banerji is the Chief Executive Officer of Pratham Education Foundation. A trained economist, Rukmini has worked extensively in Pratham’s education programs in rural and urban areas, playing a major role in designing and supporting large scale partnerships with state governments in India, for improving children’s learning outcomes.

In 2008, Rukmini received the Maulana Abul Kalam Shiksha Puraskar by the Government of Bihar, India. She was the first recipient of this award. In 2021, Rukmini was awarded the Yidan Prize for Education Development. Rukmini writes frequently on education in both Hindi and English dailies in India and enjoys writing books and stories for children.

Joy Bhattacharjya

Veteran Sports Administrator

Joy is a veteran sports administrator. He has been a trailblazer not just in sports media but also on the business and implementation side of sporting events and leagues. A former Head of Production for ESPN Star Sports, he also served as the Team Director of the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, the Project Director for the FIFA U-17 World Cup conducted in India. He is currently the CEO of the Prime Volleyball League.

Sharda Ugra

Renowned Sports Journalist

Sharda is a renowned sports journalist, with a career spanning over three decades. Sharda writes across mediums including broadsheet, news magazines and websites. She most recently was the Senior Editor at ESPNcricinfo.com. She has co-authored two books- former Men’s Team India Cricket Coach John Wright’s Indian Summers and former Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s Test of My Life.

Our Team

Abhishek Anand

Head

Aishwarya Ramachandran

Research Lead – Non-Resident

Anubhav Sachdeva

Senior Associate

Sugandha Vats

Senior Associate

Things We've Built

  • Private non-profit that has changed the trajectory of Indian Olympic and Paralympic participation and performance
  • Direct impact on national sports, gender and disability narrative
  • National Sports Awardee
  • Sports Ministry scheme that delivered India’s best ever results at Tokyo 2020
  • Design and incubation to support and delivery
  • Alignment of various interests and organisations enabled results
  • SLPC is the leading the law and policy narrative in Indian sport
  • Worldclass research, reports and Symposiums
  • Internationally recognised platform for engagement with key issues that matter in sport

Things We've Worked on