The Eternal Sports Promotion Foundation announced the appointment of Olympian Deepak Kumar as Chief League Commissioner of the School Shooting Premier League (SSPL), a school-level shooting league.
Deepak Kumar said, “Shooting gave me purpose and opportunities I will always be grateful for. I firmly believe that talent exists in every part of India — we need structured pathways that give young shooters access, coaching and exposure. The School Shooting Premier League is uniquely placed to do that within the school ecosystem. I look forward to working with schools, coaches, parents and stakeholders to make shooting an aspirational and accessible sport for our young athletes.”
Deepak Srivastava, Co-Founder of SSPL, said, “SSPL was founded to make shooting more inclusive, affordable and widely understood. With Deepak Kumar’s leadership, we can strengthen zonal competitions, expand coaching networks and create clear progression routes from school competitions to state and national levels.”
The School Shooting Premier League (SSPL), an initiative of the Eternal Sports Promotion Foundation, is a structured school-level shooting league. SSPL provides young students with professional competition, expert mentorship and clear pathways to higher achievement.
SSPL was launched with the vision of taking shooting deeper into schools and creating a sustainable pipeline of young talent. Designed as a multi-tiered competitive platform, the league brings together schools, academies and institutions to provide students with professional competition and expert mentorship.
SSPL provides students with exposure to competitive environments while building life skills such as discipline, focus, resilience, and teamwork. Alongside accessibility and affordability, the league emphasizes awareness: while cricket dominates public attention, Olympic medal-winning sports like shooting remain less known.
The inaugural season of SSPL is set to roll out with zonal qualifiers across multiple states, culminating in a national championship that will bring together the most promising school shooters from across India. The league intends to collaborate with schools, sports academies, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to implement sustained training programmes, scholarship opportunities and talent-scouting initiatives.
