Mumbai, May 16 : The Global Institute of Sports Business (GISB) located officially announced the launch of their Executive Post-Graduate Program in Sports Management at Novotel Juhu here. The launch event was witnessed by Shaji Prabhakaran, the general secretary of the All-India Football Federation, Gaurav Modwel, chancellor of GISB and chairman on India on Track (IOT) and Vivek Sethia, founder and CEO of India on Track. The launch event was also attended by numerous well-known athletes from across the nation that will be part of the first batch of the program. Players such as Rahul Bheke, the defender who plays for the Indian senior football team and captain of Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL), Farukh Choudhary, who plays for Jamshedpur FC and forward of the Indian Senior National team, Jayesh Rane of Bengaluru FC and the India U23 National team, Pratik Chaudhari who plays for Jamshedpur FC and Karan Amin who turns out for Odisha FC in the ISL attended the event. The first batch is dominated by Indian footballers who have represented India at the international stage or are part of the national team setup, and have even played in top domestic and international leagues. While talking about the need for such a program, Shaji, said, "The learnings from the Executive Program will definitely fill in the knowledge gaps that exist in the sports industry especially for the athlete community, they will find it extremely attractive to be part of it, because of the flexibility of the course. I'm sure once they go out complete the course and they start doing well, it will create more opportunities for others to step into their place and I think that's important in India, these kinds of forces coming together is good for overall growth of sports in the nation as well." The Executive Post-Graduate Program in Sports Management is a hybrid intensive, informative and relevant higher education course specialising in the business of sports. The program brings together a blend of self-paced online sessions, live online classes, domestic and international immersions and student mixers/networking events, which will allow these athletes part of the first batch of the program to learn key skills needed to be part of the rapidly professionalising sports ecosystem of India. Speaking about how this course will help support the rapidly professionalising sporting ecosystem of India, Gaurav Modwel said, "When any industry gets organized, it requires varied management styles. Sports is a very specific area; it is different from other management jobs. So, this course is very different from a normal management program. It's important that people do this kind of a program and then switch over because it will create a clear pathway for executives and the best minds in the nation to switch over to the sports industry." "I want profiles of highly professionalised personnel in the sports industry because they would come and help us build the industry. They will go on to make a big difference after this course because there is no program which is as effective and which is an online program or a hybrid program." said Modwel while highlighting the uniqueness of the course. The program is co-certified by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and will also welcome global sports industry stalwarts as speakers along with networking opportunities with GISB affiliates for the enrolled athletes. Apart from the athletes that attended the event the likes of Aditi Chauhan, former captain and current goalkeeper of the Indian National Women's team, Nikhil Poojary who plays for Hyderabad FC who has also been called up to the senior national team camp ahead of the upcoming Intercontinental Cup, Gaurav Bora defender for NorthEast United FC, Vinil Poojary who plays for I-League side FC Bengaluru United, Rohit Kumar and Parag Shrivas who play for Bengaluru FC in the ISL will be part of the first batch of the program. /IANS