Kumble spins software for football and tennis

Thursday, 28 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: Indian cricketer Anil Kumble may have been dropped from the team for the forthcoming series against New Zealand, but his IT company is attempting to bowl football and tennis fans over with its software. Bangalore-based StumpVision, promoted by Anil and his brother Dinesh, has submitted prototypes of its software to the South Africa football association and for the ATP Masters tournament in that country. Both prototypes are being evaluated. "Dinesh Kumble is in South Africa to close certain deals for World Cup Cricket 2003. We are also in talks with various football and tennis bodies to leverage on their experience and requirements to make it as comprehensive as our cricket software," Deepak Patil, the StumpVision CEO, told IANS. StumpVision's cricket information management system, or CrIMS software, has been deployed by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). It offers database about players' showing, statistics, graphics as well as an accounting package. "The data in our cricket software is an encyclopaedia. We have details of all the Test matches played since 1887 and one-day internationals since 1971. In fact it has ball-by-ball performance since 1999," says V. Krishnan, the chief technology officer. "There are two products that we have for football and tennis. The analytical one captures information as the game progresses, assesses performance and helps in deciding strategy. The other is the services segment that provides database like statistics, players' performance along with TV graphics that would assist sports bodies," adds Krishnan. Details of the global market for sports software are not available, but StumpVision's aim is to campaign for allocation of a "very small percentage" of the budgets of cash-rich sports bodies in football and tennis towards IT, says Krishnan. In India alone, there are 28 cricket associations and a smaller number of football and tennis bodies. But StumpVision is looking at the global market for football in South Asia and Europe and for tennis in Europe and the U.S. For the cricket World Cup, the company is launching an interactive CD-ROM, Cricket Safari, an encyclopaedia-cum-interactive multimedia quiz.
Source: IANS