Growing up in a paramilitary family meant changing cities every few years. In every new posting, before finding a coaching class or a neighbourhood friend group, Sagar Rai found the nearest sports ground.
There was just one problem: childhood asthma. In under-14 football in Assam, local players got preference, so Sagar moved to swimming — a sport where nobody picks you, the clock does. In his case, swimming changed his lungs, taking him from district champion to state and national level within months. Over his school and college years, Sagar competed at the national level across five sports — Swimming, Football, Cricket, Arm Wrestling, and Powerlifting — and was honoured with the Rajya Puraskar before entering engineering college.
The Dinner-Table Question Every Indian Athlete Hears
In Indian households, athletic talent eventually meets a single practical question. As Sagar's father put it at the dinner table: "Sports will get you respect. But where will you get the bread for your family?"
While completing his B.Tech at Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (APJAKTU) — where he served as college Sports Coordinator after captaining sports at Kendriya Vidyalaya — Sagar saw the structural reason behind his father's question:
- Disappearing Career Records: District, cluster, and university tournaments ran on paper sheets and WhatsApp groups. When a tournament ended, the athlete's performance record vanished into a drawer.
- Sponsorship Concentration: Over 99% of commercial sponsorship budgets chased fewer than 150 top-tier cricketers, leaving national and state medalists across 20+ sports invisible to brands.
- Fragmented Equipment & Coaching Access: Athletes outside metro centres struggled to source authentic multi-brand gear or book verified sports physiotherapists and coaches without upfront payment risk.
Walking Out of Campus Placements to Build KIBI Sports
In 2020, Sagar walked out of his final-year campus placement queue and incorporated KIBI Sports Private Limited on 16 September 2020 (CIN: U92490UP2020PTC134722, DPIIT Startup India: DIPP69448, DIN: 08881388).
Operating from 1st A Cross Road, 7th Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560095 with its registered office in Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221007 and US entity KIBI SPORTS Inc. in Delaware, KIBI Sports is a sports business from India with two legs:
- Sports equipment from 257+ brand partners sold through shop.kibisports.com and international B2B exports (
IEC: AAICK3153F). - A connected sports platform at www.kibisports.com used by 90,000+ athletes verified through sports organisations and 100+ institutions across 20+ sports and 25+ cities.
Read Sagar Rai's full feature on TapstartX Pulse, watch his TEDxISBRBangalore Talk on TED.com and YouTube, or explore his Author & Entity Home.