Noida’s Prateek Voleti on KBC for promoting sports

Prateek Voleti, a resident of Sector 93, who runs a sports academy in Noida’s Gejha village, won Rs 25 lakh prize money at the show, and was selected for promoting basketball among underprivileged children Marking Children’s Day week on Kaun Banega Crorepati, a special episode titled Karamveer was aired on Friday which saw a Noida resident, Prateek Voleti, take the hot seat. The Karamveer segment of the show aims to focus on people who are working on social issues. Voleti was selected because he has been encouraging sports among underprivileged children. Voleti, a resident of Sector 93, runs the Dribble Academy Foundation in Noida’s Gejha village. A professional basketball trainer, Voleti has brought the international sport to the villages of Noida. In Friday’s episode, Voleti was accompanied by three of his students – Shivani, Dinesh and Sachin. Dinesh and Sachin represented India at the Junior NBA Championship held in Florida earlier this year. They answered 13 questions correctly and won Rs 25 lakh prize money at the show.
Voleti says he will use the prize money to reach out to more such children and take basketball to every village of India. Talking about his experience of sitting in front of Amitabh Bachchan, Voleti says it was a “dream come true”. “I still can’t believe it happened. I feel extremely lucky to have been a part of this show, which I grew up watching,” says the 27-year-old.



Voleti was selected through a special process and his work of transforming the lives of the children from economically weaker section was taken into account and consequently, he was interviewed and selected. According to him, Bachchan was also moved by his story. “Mr Bachchan became very emotional after hearing about my story and said that for such children, there are no opportunities to focus on sports and bringing sports to them is something which every citizen of the country should try to do,” he said. Voleti was a clinical psychologist until 2013 but left his job to go to the USA and get trained by Ganon Baker, who has worked with NBA players. After returning back to India, Voleti started teaching basketball to rural kids. “A number of these children from the village were not focusing on themselves and were indulging in drugs. With basketball, I was able to divert their energy towards something productive. Today, I have three centres in Noida, and the fourth one is also getting established,” says Voleti.
He is also expanding the academy to Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. “I hope that with proper support from the government and authorities, we are able to establish a programme to encourage rural kids to take up sports,” says Voleti. He adds that appearing on KBC has given him and his academy exposure and he has been getting calls from all over the country from people who want to collaborate with him. “Until now, we have been surviving on meagre donations, but after Friday’s episode, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. I’m thankful to the makers for getting conveying our message all over the country on national television,” said Voleti.