Humans of Olympics: The man ensuring every Indian Olympian has cool sunglasses

He loves sports. He had worked in sports for close to a decade before he took up his role as the head of sports marketing for Oakley India in 2009. As one of the main functions of his job, Ashwin Krishnan, 50, is in Paris to engage and host Indian athletes, coaches and officials in the luxurious Oakley Bunker in the heart of Paris where the brand’s athletes, partners and invitees can rest, relax and watch the Olympics in complete luxury.
An effortless conversationalist with stories and anecdotes from all parts of the world about all kinds of people, Krishnan is quite easy-going and casual even in the way he dresses in a pair of jeans and sweatshirt. He is out and out a sports buff and has played everything from cricket to golf.
Also Read: Catch HT’s comprehensive coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics here
“I like golf. I played it, worked in it and I also wrote about it. I do some commentary for some racquet sports too but my first love is cricket. I used to play it seriously for a while initially. Now, I closely work with the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams and am involved in the running of IPL games from the planning and operational points of view,” says Krishnan.
This is Krishnan’s fourth Olympics since making his debut at the London Olympics in 2012 and his main task in Paris is to ensure that any Indian athlete who needs sunglasses gets a pair that works for them.
However, the most interesting thing about him is that he is the reason that every Indian cricketer and every cricketer in the IPL puts on a pair of Oakley and nothing else. Krishnan has managed brand relationships with Yuvraj Singh and Viral Kohli in the past and now is doing the same with T20 World Cup winning captain Rohit Sharma.