Nivia Sports

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Nivia Sports is an Indian sports equipment manufacturer based in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, under the banner of FreeWill Sports Pvt Ltd. The firm makes equipment like footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for football, cricket, hockey, badminton, basketball, and tennis. It has partnered with many national sports events in India.

Video Nivia Sports

History

FreeWill Sports Pvt Ltd was incorporated in 1934 in Sialkot by Nihal Chand Kharbanda. In 1962, Vijay Kharbanda joined his father in business and set up Nivia Sports. The 1947 partition of the country saw the company shift its base from Sialkot to Mumbai and from Mumbai to Meerut finally settling in Jalandhar. In 1962, Vijay Kharbanda joined as the Chief Managing Director (CMD) of the company with his father and started manufacturing a full range of leather hand stitched balls for soccer, volleyball, handball, and basketball under Nivia Sports.

Vijay Kharbanda provided priority to local people and talents who were less educated and unemployed. He empowered thousands of people by providing them employment along with encouraging them to improve and develop their skills. The name "Nivia" was derived from the combination of the initials of the name of his father Nihal Chand Kharbanda, founder of Nivia Sports, and Vijay Kharbanda: "NI" from "Nihal" and "VI" from "Vijay". Former President of India, Gyani Zail Singh awarded the Udhyog Pattar to Vijay Kharbanda, the Managing Director of Nivia Sports, in the 1980s for his outstanding contribution to the sports industry.

On Sunday, 18 June 2017, Vijay Kharbanda died. He was 77 years old. His contribution to the sports segment is highly appreciated.

Since 1991, Rajesh Kharbanda has been the Managing Director and CEO of Nivia Sports. As a board member of the World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry, he initiated, introduced and engaged Nivia Sports with national and international bodies like FIFA, All India Basketball Federation, All India Football Federation, Volleyball Federation of India, and Handball Federation of India. He is an associate member and office bearer at various trade and business associations including the Sports Goods Foundation of India, and the Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Maps Nivia Sports

Products

Nivia Sports produces sports products in India which have been sponsored and used in national and international tournaments, leagues and championships. It includes the categories of sports equipment, apparel, footwear, and accessories.

Football

Nivia Sports is the first Indian sports equipment manufacturer to produce hand stitched balls, including footballs. In the 1950s, under Freewill Sports Pvt Ltd, Nivia Sports started manufacturing hand stitched leather footballs, basketballs, and volleyballs. They had an opportunity to export balls to international markets and exported their first consignment of 30 balls to Indonesia. In the 1960s the Nivia football received the approval of National Institute of Sports, Patiala, Punjab, India. Its football became the official ball for the National Football Championship and for the All India Football Federation (AIFF). In the 1980s, Nivia was selected as the official ball for the International Football Tournament Jawaharlal Nehru Gold Cup and South Asian Federation (SAF) Games. Nivia earned the FIFA certification for the football in the 2000s.

Nivia Sports has also produced and sponsored other accessories related to football, such as shoes, team wear, goal keeper gloves, goal nets, training gear, shin guards, ball pumps, and stockings.

Volleyball

With extensive research and technology Nivia Sports brought a change to the sporting age. In 1960, the University of Leipzig in Germany declared the Nivia volleyball as one of the best in the world. In 1963, the Nivia volleyball was selected to be used as the official ball in the Pre-Olympic Volleyball Championship organised in New Delhi, India by a panel of international referees.

Nivia has also sponsored volleyball accessories like shoes, team wear, antennae, nets and other sportswear and bags.

Basketball

Nivia makes hand made balls. A basketball starts as a blob of rubber and is squeezed through a machine over and over to flatten it to 0.5 - 1mm. Then it is cut and molded into a round shape. This is the bladder that holds air. The bladder is inflated and woven around with nylon thread. This strengthens the balls and helps them stay round. When the mummy-looking balls get their skins they finally start looking like basketballs. Their rough edges are smoothed and lines are drawn by hand, using one careful stroke at a time. Before the balls are ready for the courts, they are checked for air leaks for 24 hours. A sample goes through a shooting test. The ball is shot at a speed of 25 mph at an iron plate of thickness of 1 inch, 2000 times. Then its diameter is measured in several spots to see if the ball has kept its round shape. Finally after quality checks, the balls are deflated for dispatching to tournaments. Covering the entire process, every three seconds Nivia makes one ball. CNNMoney showed the making of basketballs in Nivia's factory at Jalandhar (Punjab), India.

Sports footwear

During the 1980s, Nivia Sports started manufacturing sports footwear in India. After being awarded appreciation certificate by the IX Asian Games Organizing Committee for the contribution in the success of the games and for providing support and products, Nivia added all ranges of sports footwear for use in games such as cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, badminton, lawn tennis, kabaddi, wrestling, and track & field. They also produced shoelaces and gel insoles.

Sports accessories

Nivia Sports produces sports accessories such as kits or bags, tracksuits, shorts, lowers, shocks, and windcheaters for use in cricket, football, basketball, and volleyball. Nivia has sponsored all these products for national and international leagues and tournaments.

Nivia has contributed sports equipment, footwear and accessories including badminton rackets and shuttlecocks, strings, skateboards, skating wheels, squash rackets, and swimming accessories like earplugs, fins, masks, and aqua boards.

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Sponsorships

Nivia Sports has been the kit sponsor for many sports teams over the year including I-league teams, Mumbai FC and DSK Shivajians.

• Nivia was an official partner of the 35th National Games Kerala, 2015 for basketball and volleyball.
• Official partner of SingaCup 2014
• NIVIA was the official ball at almost all the Santosh Trophy matches from 1970s and was used in SAF Games in Kolkata and major IFA tournaments.
• NIVIA was the kit manufacturer of Atlético de Kolkata in the 2015 ISL season.
• Nivia was the apparel partner for Bharat FC.
• Nivia's Antrix football was the official match ball for the Goa Super Cup (GSC) tournament held in Goa in May, 2017.

Football

Clubs

• Atletico de Kolkata (2015-)
• Mumbai F.C. (2015-17)
• DSK Shivajians (2015-17)
• Delhi United
• Chennai United (2017-)
• Jamshedpur FC (2017-)
• Shillong Lajong FC (2017-)
• Thimphu City (2017-)
• Transport United (2017-)

Tournaments/leagues

• Assam State Premier League
• BRICS Football Cup
• Mizoram Premier League (2015-)
• Chandigarh Football League
• Delhi Youth League
• Singa Cup
• SAFF Women Championship (Siliguri)

Former sponsorships

• Bharat FC (2014-15)
• Guwahati FC (2015)
• 2014 Lusophony Games
• 2013 SAFF Championship
• 2015 National Games of India
• Subroto Cup
• Indian College Basketball League
• Indian School Basketball League

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References

External links

• About Nivia Sports
• About Nivia Equipment
• Nivia as the I-League side Bharat FC club's official apparel partner
• FIFA Cup

Source of article : Wikipedia