SFL Strengthens India’s Youth Sports Pathway with Top-Class Leadership Bench
SFL, one of India’s fastest growing multi-sport youth training platforms, is building a long term and future ready roadmap for youth sports by investing not just in world class coaching and infrastructure, but also in a strong leadership ecosystem across technical, institutional, and programmatic roles. Founded by Sourjyendu Medda, Co-founder and CEO and Armaan Tandon, Co-founder and COO, SFL was shaped by their first-hand experiences as players and parents. The organisation was created to make grassroots sport organised, aspirational, and accessible at scale, with a clear vision to democratise access to elite coaching, structured competition pathways, and technology enabled transparency that can shape millions of children and contribute to India’s ambition of becoming a truly sporting nation.
SFL’s commitment to excellence is further strengthened by a high-performing bench of technical heads who lead sport programs with deep expertise and proven competitive success. At the centre of this technical vision is Heimir Hallgrímsson, SFL’s Global Ambassador & Football Director, who is currently leading Republic of Ireland’s FIFA World Cup campaign and is globally recognised for Iceland’s historic UEFA Euro 2016 quarterfinal finish and their first-ever FIFA World Cup appearance in 2018. Most recently, he guided the Republic of Ireland to a dramatic playoff-securing victory over Hungary, demonstrating the calibre of global expertise now shaping India’s next generation. Alongside him, Satyajeet Saaini, FA UK licensed coach and UK Master’s graduate in Sports Management, leads SFL Oranje Football and has scaled the programme from 23 players to more than 800 athletes who compete at state and national levels, together building a strong and sustainable football development system.
Tennis at SFL Racquet Arena is led by Aditya Chougule, an ITF Level 2 certified coach and founder of ACTA, who brings years of elite level coaching experience working closely with top Indian players. He is supported by Aniket Wakankar, former Maharashtra No. 1 in under 14 and under 16 and a Junior National Champion, who focuses on building strong technical foundations and competition ready mindsets among young athletes.
Leading the Badminton program, Deep Rambhiya, former India No.1 in men’s doubles and current No. 2 in mixed doubles, brings national and international podium experience across the National Games, Senior Nationals and international challenge tournaments. Supporting program scale is Vikram Devare, national-level player, IIM Kozhikode alumnus and former head of Sporthood’s 5,000-athlete development structure, who specialises in building performance ecosystems for young talent.
Table tennis at SFL is led by Eric Fernandes, former India No 2 in under 17 and Maharashtra State Champion, and an ITTF certified coach. He brings a sharp technical focus and a results driven approach to player development, building precision, discipline, and match readiness from grassroots to advanced competitive levels.
The chess academy at SFL is guided by Grandmaster Shyam Sundar, a highly respected coach with more than a decade of experience in developing international calibre players. He has coached Indian teams at the Olympiad and Asian Games and has mentored players who have gone on to win global junior titles.
The Basketball Academy is driven by Yadwinder Singh, former India captain and current Assistant coach to the Indian team, who has represented the country in 13 major international tournaments including FIBA Asia and the Commonwealth Games. His leadership focuses on competitive toughness, discipline and mentality required for professional pathways.
In Squash, Amit Gajaria, WSF-certified coach and head of A-Square Squash Academy, trains over 100 junior athletes across five centres, including top-ranked competitors. With an emphasis on reading the game and mastering mental resilience, he builds athletes equipped for long-term success.
Complementing technical leadership is a strong group of specialised non-sports leaders building scalable and safe developmental ecosystems. Edwina Lobo (Head, Safeguarding & Wellness), TISS postgraduate, FA-certified educator and founder of the Association for the Welfare and Safety of Children and Adolescents, designs child protection frameworks and emotional wellbeing systems. Abhishek Jain (Head of Engineering), MBA, HEC Paris and Computer Science graduate from NIT Durgapur, brings seven years of experience building large-scale consumer tech and leads SFL’s product and engineering strategy. Venkatesh “Venky” Srinivasan, IIM Bangalore alumnus, celebrated quizmaster, sports presenter and co-founder of Nexus Consulting with 500+ hosted events, strengthens community engagement and cultural foundations. Gautam Ahuja, founder of GameCrafters with over a decade of experience in national and state-level sports program design, advises on curriculum and long-term athlete development pathways, ensuring training systems are structured, measurable and aligned with global benchmarks.
With leadership as its foundation, SFL plans to expand into Bengaluru and the NCR in the coming year, onboard over 10,000 additional children across its academies and more than 20,000 participants through its tournament ecosystem, and grow its sports portfolio from seven to twelve disciplines, with Cricket slated for launch soon. SFL will continue to build India’s most advanced youth sports ecosystem, a professionally run, technology-enabled and competition-driven pathway that empowers children to unlock their full potential and strengthens India’s future sporting talent at national and international levels.
