MS Dhoni and Spartan Sports bury the hatchet, join hands again
Following reports of a fall-out between MS Dhoni’s Rhiti Sports and Australia-based Spartan Sports, a new deal has been inked by the two parties to continue their association in the coming months as well.
In a media release, Rhiti Sports Chairman and MD Arun Pandey stated, “Rhiti Sports and Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni have joined hands for their ventures with Spartan. The parties are excited with their long-term discussions that have led to the development and now will aggressively work with each other to gain new heights of excellence and profits.”
A couple of weeks back, news of Dhoni being allegedly duped by Spartan for several crore rupees were doing the rounds. He had signed a three-year bat and sponsorship deal with them in December 2013.
Arun Pandey himself confirmed, “Everything is not smooth and hopefully the matter will be resolved soon.” However, Spartan vehemently dismissed those as speculations and claimed that they arose in order to ‘disrupt the relationship’ between them and the wicket-keeper batsman.
A spokesperson for the company insisted, “Spartan refutes the claims that they are in dispute with MS Dhoni and Rhiti Sports. As a matter of fact, the recent press reports have made Kunal Sharma, managing director at Spartan, and Arun Pandey, managing director at Rhiti Sports, meet in India.”
From offices in Sydney and New Delhi, Spartan also endorses various other international players such as Michael Clarke, Chris Gayle, Eoin Morgan, Mitchell Johnson, Joe Burns, Gurinder Sandhu and Viv Richards. Recently, the iconic Sachin Tendulkar became a part of Spartan as an investor and member of their advisory board.
Meanwhile, the 35-year old Dhoni is still one of the most charismatic and sought-after names in the commercial circuit. Being the brand ambassador of more than 15 companies, Forbes places him at 23rd in the list of highest paid athletes across the world.