Sachin Tendulkar Terminates Association with Spartan Sports for Default in Payments

Indian National Cricket team batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has decided to terminate his association with Spartan Sports after the company defaulted on payments running into crores. Meanwhile, Tendulkar was an investor and an advisory board member.

The Sydney-based company, owned by Indian entrepreneur Kunal Sharma, signed up the batting legend in 2016. Besides Sachin Tendulkar, the company has also signed other leading names from the sport, such as former India World Cup-winning skipper MS Dhoni, swashbuckling Windies opener Chris Gayle and Eoin Morgan among others.

A recent court ruling Australia has ordered Spartan Sports to be liquidated. As a result, this could affect the players associated with Spartan Sports. As per reports in PTI, a source close aware of the proceedings said that a few cricketers suffered financial losses after the company defaulted on their payments.

“He will stall company’s plans to grow sports goods business in India and other Asian countries. While (Sachin Tendulkar is the) first high-profile exit from the names associated with Spartan, others like Dhoni and Mitchell Johnson had threatened or undertaken legal action,” a source told PTI.

“Future of company is uncertain as it stares at liquidation. Group company SSG (Wholesale) Australia is already under liquidation. The company’s efforts to reorganise business after liquidation of group company has not yielded any results,” he added.

Spartan Sports owes creditors to the tune of Rs 60 crore, and the players could suffer major losses if the liquidation process gets underway. Former Australia skipper Michael Clarke also signed a bat sponsorship deal with the company. However, he stopped using the Spartan logo on his bat during the final phase of his career, while fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has also filed a case against it.