MAM
Neo Sports ropes in sponsors for All England Open Badminton Championship
MUMBAI: Neo Sports has roped in a clutch of sponsors for the All England Badminton Championship.
The sponsors are Perfetti, Adidas, Vodafone and Tata DoCoMo e-connect, according to market sources. Neo will telecast the event from the quarterfinal stage from 10-13 March.
While not revealing any names, Neo Sports Broadcast EVP ad revenue Raju Udupa said that with the craze happening around Saina Nehwal over the past six months, viewership of the sport is growing. Advertisers are now more open to investing in other sports besides cricket.
“Earlier there was no viewership for badminton. Now that Indians are performing well, viewers are encouraged to tune in. There is a niche audience for this sport which will grow. To push this event, we have advertised online to push badminton. We also use syndicated columns in the press, SMS, mailers. We have seen that women also follow this sport. A lot of badminton viewing comes from the metros,” Udupa added.
Sponsors, Udupa said, have exclusivity as there are no spot buys. Unlike cricket, the format of the sport is such that there is no room for it.
Neo plans to kick-off on-ground initiatives aimed at schools and badminton clubs in the near future. The channel airs 12 events of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) a year.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
