World Athletics Day: Vedanta Aluminium Celebrates the Transformative Power of Sports Across Odisha
8th May 2025
Bhubaneswar, 8th May 2025: On the occasion of World Athletics Day, Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, celebrates its steadfast commitment to fostering grassroots sporting talent and building a culture of athletic excellence across its operations in Kalahandi and Jharsuguda, Odisha.
Driving this commitment are initiatives like the Vedanta Sports Training Initiative in Lanjigarh and the Vedanta Martial Arts Training Centre at Jharsuguda. These initiatives are empowering more than 200 youth from underserved communities through access to professional coaching, modern sports infrastructure, and competitive platforms.
Since 2018, Vedanta’s Lanjigarh unit has been at the forefront of community sports development. In this remote tribal belt – once known for malnutrition, stunted growth, and starvation-related deaths – Vedanta’s Sports Training Initiative now supports more than 100 young athletes who are winning accolades on national and global platforms. Vedanta offers structured coaching in archery and karate, access to quality equipment, uniforms, and expert-led camps. In the past year alone, the archers trained under the program have secured 40+ medals at various state and national championships. Currently, Vedanta supports 60 students in karate and 40 in archery at SSD High School, Lanjigarh, enabling them to aspire to and achieve sporting excellence at higher levels. Recently, the academy partnered with former Olympian, Rahul Banerjee, to train more than 80+ tribal students in archery.
The Vedanta Martial Arts Training Centre, a flagship initiative of Vedanta Aluminium’s Jharsuguda unit, provides training in karate and self-defence to local youth and women. With more than 100 students currently enrolled, the centre promotes physical fitness, self-discipline, and confidence, while preparing participants to compete at state, national, and international levels. The company also collaborated with the District Hockey Association to organize the first-ever Inter-State Girls’ U-17 Girls’ 5-A-Side Hockey Tournament in Jharsuguda. The tournament witnessed enthusiastic participation from nine teams, serving as a platform to identify and encourage promising female athletes.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajiv Kumar, CEO – Vedanta Aluminium, said: “At Vedanta Aluminium, we believe sports has the power to transform lives. From Jharsuguda to Lanjigarh, our initiatives are not just creating athletes, but shaping confident, empowered individuals. Odisha has always been a cradle of sporting talent, and we are proud to be strengthening that legacy by building infrastructure, enabling access, and nurturing aspirations.”
Across Kalahandi and Jharsuguda, Vedanta Aluminium is building on Odisha’s rich sporting legacy, particularly in hockey, archery, and martial arts. The company has organized numerous events such as the District Hockey Championship and sponsored infrastructure like the Jharsuguda District Athletics Association’s new administrative building. Its townships are equipped with modern playgrounds and training facilities, encouraging participation from both youth and adults in leading active, healthier lives.
Vedanta Aluminium’s grassroots sports programs have already seen athletes shine at prestigious platforms such as national-level archery competitions. These efforts reflect the company’s broader vision of contributing to the holistic development of its communities and creating lasting social impact.
About Vedanta Limited:
Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading Oil & Gas and Metals company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa and Namibia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing significantly to nation building. Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment. Vedanta has put in place a comprehensive framework to be the ESG leader in the natural resources sector. Vedanta is committed to reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or sooner and has pledged $5 billion over the next 10 years to accelerate the transition to net zero operations. Giving back is in the DNA of Vedanta, which is focused on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company’s flagship social impact program, Nand Ghars, have been set up as model anganwadis focused on eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare, and empowering women with skill development. Under the aegis of the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the umbrella entity for Vedanta’s social initiatives, the Vedanta group has pledged Rs 5000 crore over the next five years on social impact programmes with a thrust on nutrition, women & child development, healthcare, animal welfare, and grass-root level sports. Vedanta and the group companies have been featured in Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and was conferred Frost & Sullivan Sustainability Awards 2020, Golden Peacock Award for excellence in Corporate Governance 2022 and certified as a Great Place to Work 2022. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.
For more information, please visit www.vedantalimited.com
About Vedanta Aluminium Business:
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.37 million tonnes in FY24. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 1st in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2023 world rankings for the aluminium industry, a reflection of its leading sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
For more information, please log on to www.vedantaaluminium.com
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