Grav8 Sports Is Building India’s CXO Sports Ecosystem
Founded by RJ Anmol, Grav8 is creating a platform that brings sport, fitness and networking into the professional lives of India’s senior business leaders.
- Oct 23, 2026,
- Updated Oct 23, 2026 9:24 AM IST
In one year, Grav8 Sports has taken a first-of-its-kind CXO sports initiative from Mumbai to a multi-city platform, with the CXO Pickleball League and CXO Baddy League emerging as its key sports properties. Founded by RJ Anmol, Grav8 is creating a platform that brings sport, fitness and networking into the professional lives of India’s senior business leaders.
Grav8 launched India’s first CXO Pickleball League in September 2025 in Mumbai. The inaugural edition brought senior business leaders onto the court through an invite-only format combining competition, coaching and hospitality. It featured Olympic medallist and former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal and Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, with CXOs from HDFC ERGO, Regalia Business Parks, WNS, Hitachi Systems and DSK Legal among the participating companies. Grav8 subsequently partnered with Regalia Business Parks, a Hiranandani Group company, to take the initiative across Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Goa. The CXO Baddy League was subsequently executed in Mumbai on October 18 at NSCI Dome, extending Grav8’s CXO sports format to badminton, with Saina Nehwal as its brand ambassador and partners including HDFC ERGO, Yotta Data Services and Regalia Business Parks.
The idea was to address a simple gap in the lives of senior business leaders: while they manage demanding schedules, long working hours and high-pressure responsibilities, fitness is often the first part of their routine to be compromised. Grav8 uses sport to make physical activity more accessible, social and enjoyable, creating a format where senior professionals can exercise, compete and stay active without fitness feeling like another obligation on an already packed schedule.
The objective is not simply to bring people together outside the boardroom. It is to bring movement into the boardroom culture itself. For senior management, whose working lives are often built around meetings, calls, travel and decision-making, Grav8 is creating opportunities where fitness becomes part of the professional routine through sport. The competitive element makes participation engaging, while the social environment allows colleagues, peers and business leaders to build relationships naturally while being physically active.
That approach also explains Grav8’s association with established sporting personalities and athletes. Saina Nehwal remains associated with the platform, while leading Indian pickleball players, including Asia No. 1 Armaan Bhatia, have participated alongside CXOs. At the Bengaluru edition, Bhatia shared the court with business leaders and former Titan MD C K Venkataraman. The presence of professional athletes gives participants access to sporting expertise while reinforcing the larger objective of making sport and fitness more relevant to senior professionals.
The model also creates a different opportunity for brands. Rather than placing brands around a conventional corporate event, Grav8 puts them within an active environment where decision-makers are participating in the experience. Its current network includes names such as Barclays, KPMG, Google, Adidas, Spotify, Hitachi, WNS and HDFC ERGO.
For RJ Anmol, the ambition is to make this a larger shift in how corporate India approaches fitness.
“We started with one simple question: how do we make fitness a regular part of the lives of people who are constantly managing high-pressure businesses? Senior leaders spend most of their time in meetings, on calls and travelling, and fitness often gets pushed to the bottom of the list. We wanted to change that by making sport the reason to step away, get active and have fun. In our first year, we have gone from one city to a multi-city format across Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune, with Hyderabad and Goa also part of the expansion, bringing together leaders from companies across sectors alongside athletes such as Saina Nehwal and Armaan Bhatia. If we can make sport a regular part of the C-suite routine, we can build a culture where fitness, competition and community become part of how India’s business leaders work and live,” RJ Anmol, Founder, Grav8 Sports, said.
Grav8 is now extending the platform through its existing CXO sports properties, alongside women leadership formats, founder-investor experiences and corporate sports programmes. The objective across these initiatives remains consistent: create more opportunities for professionals to participate in sport and make physical activity part of workplace culture.
In one year, Grav8 Sports has taken a first-of-its-kind CXO sports initiative from Mumbai to a multi-city platform, with the CXO Pickleball League and CXO Baddy League emerging as its key sports properties. Founded by RJ Anmol, Grav8 is creating a platform that brings sport, fitness and networking into the professional lives of India’s senior business leaders.
Grav8 launched India’s first CXO Pickleball League in September 2025 in Mumbai. The inaugural edition brought senior business leaders onto the court through an invite-only format combining competition, coaching and hospitality. It featured Olympic medallist and former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal and Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, with CXOs from HDFC ERGO, Regalia Business Parks, WNS, Hitachi Systems and DSK Legal among the participating companies. Grav8 subsequently partnered with Regalia Business Parks, a Hiranandani Group company, to take the initiative across Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Goa. The CXO Baddy League was subsequently executed in Mumbai on October 18 at NSCI Dome, extending Grav8’s CXO sports format to badminton, with Saina Nehwal as its brand ambassador and partners including HDFC ERGO, Yotta Data Services and Regalia Business Parks.
The idea was to address a simple gap in the lives of senior business leaders: while they manage demanding schedules, long working hours and high-pressure responsibilities, fitness is often the first part of their routine to be compromised. Grav8 uses sport to make physical activity more accessible, social and enjoyable, creating a format where senior professionals can exercise, compete and stay active without fitness feeling like another obligation on an already packed schedule.
The objective is not simply to bring people together outside the boardroom. It is to bring movement into the boardroom culture itself. For senior management, whose working lives are often built around meetings, calls, travel and decision-making, Grav8 is creating opportunities where fitness becomes part of the professional routine through sport. The competitive element makes participation engaging, while the social environment allows colleagues, peers and business leaders to build relationships naturally while being physically active.
That approach also explains Grav8’s association with established sporting personalities and athletes. Saina Nehwal remains associated with the platform, while leading Indian pickleball players, including Asia No. 1 Armaan Bhatia, have participated alongside CXOs. At the Bengaluru edition, Bhatia shared the court with business leaders and former Titan MD C K Venkataraman. The presence of professional athletes gives participants access to sporting expertise while reinforcing the larger objective of making sport and fitness more relevant to senior professionals.
The model also creates a different opportunity for brands. Rather than placing brands around a conventional corporate event, Grav8 puts them within an active environment where decision-makers are participating in the experience. Its current network includes names such as Barclays, KPMG, Google, Adidas, Spotify, Hitachi, WNS and HDFC ERGO.
For RJ Anmol, the ambition is to make this a larger shift in how corporate India approaches fitness.
“We started with one simple question: how do we make fitness a regular part of the lives of people who are constantly managing high-pressure businesses? Senior leaders spend most of their time in meetings, on calls and travelling, and fitness often gets pushed to the bottom of the list. We wanted to change that by making sport the reason to step away, get active and have fun. In our first year, we have gone from one city to a multi-city format across Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune, with Hyderabad and Goa also part of the expansion, bringing together leaders from companies across sectors alongside athletes such as Saina Nehwal and Armaan Bhatia. If we can make sport a regular part of the C-suite routine, we can build a culture where fitness, competition and community become part of how India’s business leaders work and live,” RJ Anmol, Founder, Grav8 Sports, said.
Grav8 is now extending the platform through its existing CXO sports properties, alongside women leadership formats, founder-investor experiences and corporate sports programmes. The objective across these initiatives remains consistent: create more opportunities for professionals to participate in sport and make physical activity part of workplace culture.