MUMBAI: Yannick Colaco, who recently quit Nimbus Sport where he was chief operating officer, has joined the National Basketball Association (NBA) India as managing director.

Colaco will manage the NBA?s India office, based in Mumbai, and oversee all of the league?s business and basketballdevelopment in the
country. He will report to NBA President, International, Heidi Ueberroth.

Ueberroth said, ?Yannick Colaco has the ideal combination of experience and knowledge of the sports landscape in India necessary to lead our expanding operations in the country. Basketball is on the rise in India and we are thrilled to have Yannick lead our extremely talented staff as we build towards the future.?

Colaco will be responsible for leading the growth of the NBA in India. He will continue to build on the league?s efforts to grow participation in basketball in partnership with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

Colaco -- who played basketball at the national university level in India -- will work with the league?s media, marketing and merchandising partners to make the NBA more accessible to fans in India. He will also be responsible for growing further the NBA?s social media presence in the country.

He said, ?The sports market in India is poised for significant growth and as basketball participation increases further there is a tremendous opportunity for the NBA. The league has a strong staff in Mumbai and I look forward to joining their efforts to carry out the NBA?s mission to grow basketball in India.?

The NBA?s Mumbai office opened in October 2011 and includes Akash Jain, Senior Director, Business Development and Partnerships; Troy Justice, Senior Director, Basketball Operations, and three other employees.

NBA headquarters in New York also has a cross-departmental team dedicated to NBA growth in India.

Colaco was named Nimbus Sport COO in June 2009 after joining the company in August 2002. During his tenure he worked extensively across a wide range of sports properties and drove Nimbus Sport business to record profitability.

Prior to Nimbus Sport, Yannick began his career at IMG where he worked on a number of prominent event properties including India?s first ATP Tour Event, Asian PGA Tour Events and the Indian Fashion Week.

The NBA is committed to growing basketball in India and
has hosted more than 450 events in 10 cities since 2008. The league has marketing partnerships in India with adidas, Coca-Cola, Nike, Reebok and Spalding.

NBA has merchandise widely available in 200 adidas locations. Earlier this season, NBA announced a new television partnership with Multi Screen Media?s Sony Six channel providing fans in India the most comprehensive NBA programming and game coverage.

MUMBAI: Following the successful conduct of the first season of World Series Hockey, Nimbus and Indian Hockey Federation have announced the dates for the second season. The world?s biggest hockey league will be played from 15 December to 20 January 2013.

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco said, "We are delighted to announce the dates of World Series Hockey Season 2. Season 1 was a resounding success for all the stakeholders - players, commercial partners, franchise owners and above all the hockey fans."

IHF president R K Shetty said, "World Series Hockey has clearly emerged as the biggest hockey league in the world and the second biggest sports league in India after IPL. The second season will be bigger and better. We will shortly announce a host of new initiatives along with the format and schedule."

According to Nimbus, the inaugural season of World Series Hockey reached viewers in over 30 countries on television and over 65 countries on YouTube. The unique television tune-ins in India was over 32 million.

The five week long inaugural tournament created unprecedented buzz in terms of daily prime time action on television and record fan walk-ins in the stadium. An aggressive 360-degree marketing campaign and extensive media coverage resulted in high awareness and consumption of WSH.