Kolkata: You’ve seen him whack bowlers at will. You’ve seen him at his wittiest best on Twitter and in the commentary box. And now, Virender Sehwag, the former Indian opener is all set to don the role of a TV host, as he has been roped in by a Mumbai-based entertainment company to host a show based on sports named, Umeed Olympic.
The show, which is going to be of 13 parts would basically portray the lives of Indian athletes who are gearing up for the 2020 Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Tokyo. The show would bring into light their lifestyle. Some of the athletes had participated in last year’s Olympics at Rio. The show is expected to be aired on the Epic Channel.
The former Indian cricketer is travelling to training camps as well as to the houses of these athletes to get a sneak-peek into their lives and capture some really exciting moments while interviewing their coaching staff and family members. As a matter of fact, Sehwag’s team has already begun travelling for the shoot and it is expected to visit various National Sports Federations and government agencies and discuss the plans they have in store for these athletes as well as for preparing top notch athletes in the future.
Sehwag recently had been to Hyderabad to interact with national sprint champion Dutee Chand which turned out to be a huge confidence booster for the 21-year old and for other youngsters who were training with her, according to a Facebook post made by her coach N Ramesh.
Understandably, such a move has been made keeping in mind the lack of attention and popularity, that sports other than cricket in India face. And former international judo player and coach Yaspal Solanki believes that the sole focus of this show should be to cultivate an awareness about the Olympics in India. “Normally, the buzz is once in four years and that too just weeks before the big event. But the new programme will give an in-depth analysis of the entire journey of the athletes” said Solanki. Avtar Singh, who was trained by Solanki and was the only Indian judoka to compete in the Rio Olympics last year would also feature in the programme.
Thus, Umeed Olympic would become the only TV show after Sourav Ganguly’s Dadagiri to be hosted by an Indian cricketer. Going by Sehwag’s ‘form’ outside the cricket pitch in recent times, this show is surely to have a lot of followers waiting for it to be aired. Good luck on your new role Viru!
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)