Tendulkar terminates association with Spartan Sports for default

Batting great Sachin Tendulkar has terminated his association with Spartan Sports, in which he was an investor and an advisory board member, after the company defaulted on payments running into crores.

The 45-year-old Tendulkar, who holds a plethora of records in international cricket, was signed up by the Sydney-based company in 2016. It was co-founded by Indian entrepreneur Kunal Sharma.

Besides Tendulkar, the company has also signed other leading names from the sport, such as India's World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, big-hitting West Indies opener Chris Gayle and Eoin Morgan among others.

A recent court ruling in Australia ordered the sports gear and equipment company to be liquidated, which in turn could affect the players associated with Spartan Sports.

Well-placed sources said a few cricketers suffered financial losses after the company defaulted on their payments.

"He will stall company's plans to grow sports goods business in India and other Asian countries. While (Tendulkar is the) first high-profile exit from the names associated with Spartan, others like Dhoni and Mitchell Johnson had threatened or undertaken legal action," a source told PTI.

"Future of company is uncertain as it stares at liquidation. Group company SSG (Wholesale) Australia is already under liquidation. The company's efforts to reorganise business after liquidation of group company has not yielded any results," he said.

Spartan Sports owes creditors to the tune of Rs 60 crore and the players could suffer major losses if the liquidation process gets underway.

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke, who had signed a bat sponsorship deal with the company, stopped using the Spartan logo on his bat during the final phase of his career, while pacer Johnson filed a case against it.