EditorDr. Adille J. Sumariwalla (born 1 January 1958) is an Olympian who is now a World Athletics Vice President. A sprinter, he represented India at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and several international competitions, and is now a sports administrator, educationist and entrepreneur.
He is the first Indian to be elected to the World Athletics Council. He helmed the fortunes of the Athletics Federation of India at a critical period and was its President for 12 years during which Neeraj Chopra emerged as the first Indian track and field athlete to win an Olympic Games medal, a gold in Tokyo 2020. After tenures in some media companies including the American Media Company, he turned an entrepreneur and owns many media businesses in India.
Athletics career
Drawn to athletics in his school days, Adille Sumariwalla won the National 100m titles 11 times. He competed in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow after winning a medal in the 1979 Asian Track and Field Championships in Tokyo. He was the 100m champion in the inaugural South Asian Federation Games in 1984. He set the men’s 200m Collegiate Record and held it for 35 years, but more importantly, the men’s 100m National Record stood in his name for 18 years.
Adille Sumariwalla’s team-mate Clint Martin, recalls him as a small, tough, ambitious and determined young lad when he joined the Juhu Sports Club. His father would not have allowed him to do anything with Athletics and he would sneak out of home to train. He would send his tracksuit and spikes flying out of the window of their 11th floor home, stepping as if he were going to the library or a friend’s house to study. His father never ever found out why he never became an Ivy League student but found out that his son had become the nation’s fastest man through The Times of India.
Coaching career
After retiring from competitive sprinting, he played a vital role in coaching National and international athletes, some of whom became Olympians, before he shifted his focus to sports administration.
Sports Administration
Adille Sumariwalla is now Vice President of World Athletics, a role he was elected to in Budapest in 2023. He has been a Council member of IAAF, as World Athletics was earlier known, since 2015. He served as the Chair of the Strategic Communications Advisory Group and the Age Manipulation Committee alongside being a member of the Development Committee.
He served for 12 years as President of the Athletics Federation and two terms as Vice President of the National Olympic Committee, Indian Olympic Association. He was the Chef-de-Mission of the Indian contingent at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
He was Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Asian Athletics Championships (2013 & 2017). He was a Member of the Organising Committee for Commonwealth Games (2010), WA Permit Meetings, Commonwealth Youth Games (2008) and the National Games (1994). The Olympic Council of Asia appointed him a member of its Sports and Environment Committee.
Integrity and Ethics
Adille Sumariwalla was Chair of the World Athletics for the Age Manipulation Committee and a member of the World Athletics Risk Committee for the Human Rights Working Group. He was Chair of Audit & Remuneration Committees in Next MediaWorks Limited, a Public Listed Company. As AFI President, he enforced the ‘No Needle Policy’ in the National Camps, making AFI the first Indian Federation to introduce such a step to protect the integrity of the sport.
Communications and Media
Adille Sumariwalla was Chair of the World Athletics Strategic Communications Advisory Group.
Professional experience
Adille Sumariwalla has been a part of many businesses and corporations in the media and education sectors. He started with Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. (now Tata Motors) and worked in various domains for 15 years.
Later, he was the founding CEO of The Asian Age in 1994. Since then, he has worked with many other organisations, notably Mid-Day Multimedia where he was responsible for setting up the Outdoor Division, and its merger with Clear Channel International. After serving eight years as the Chairman and Managing Director, he founded and acted as the Managing Director of Interspace Communications Pvt. Ltd. a media house.
He has also served on the Boards of SE TransStadia Holdings Ltd., Next Radio Ltd., Next MediaWorks Ltd, Professional Sports Services (1) Pvt. Ltd., Syngience Broadcast Ahmedabad Ltd. and is the Founder Director of the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association.
Educational Background
He completed his schooling in St. Mary’s School, Mumbai. He then acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Accounting and Auditing, a Master’s degree in Business Management from the University of Bombay. Later, he pursued an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management in Manila and continued his education at the Harvard Business School – India Research Centre.
Awards
The Government of India conferred the Arjuna Award, then India’s highest sports honour, on Adille Sumariwalla in 1985.
The Maharashtra State Government honoured him with the Shiv Chhatrapati Award for his Excellence in Athletics in 1980. In 1999, it presented him the Dadaji Kondev Award for Excellence in Coaching, making him one of the handful to get the State awards both as an athlete and as a coach.
Recognition
He was appointed as a Member of the Mission Olympic Cell by the Government of India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to assist in the preparation of the Indian teams for the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. The Ministry appointed him as a member of the Core Team for the Fit India Movement and on the Governing Council of the Khelo India Scheme.
Service to community and society
Education
Adille Sumariwalla has acted as a member of the Academic Council at the University of Bombay and the Academic Council at the Shivaji University of Kolhapur.
Later, he was President, Provost, TransStadia Education and Research Foundation (TERF).
Sports
He was Treasurer at the Olympians Association of India and a member of the Terry Fox Committee in India, collecting over USD 10 million since inception.
He has been a Member of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICC) Sports Committee and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee on Sports.
He was a part of the Governing Council, Sports, PE, Fitness and Leisure of the Skills Council of India.
Speaking engagements
Adille Sumariwalla sense of balance and articulation has made him is one of India’s most sought after sports administrators with a number of platforms in the industry and beyond seeking his presence as speaker or as part of panels that discuss policy matters or seek learnings from the world of sport.
Family
Adille Sumariwalla takes pride in his family. His wife, Armaity Sumariwalla is a well-known architect in Mumbai. Married since 1986, Armaity and Adille have a daughter and a son.