Meeting With The Prime Minister Of India

I hate wearing suits, but I love chasing dreams.

I had the precious opportunity today to meet one-on-one with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad, India. If you had told me 6 years ago when I first started ONE Championship that I would meet with him one day, I would have laughed at you. I am still pinching myself! It was a super productive day of meetings in India, and I can't wait for ONE Championship to launch in India in a big way. To be clear though, there is still a tremendous amount of work to do for myself and my team. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Modi is a big believer in sports and health. He also fully understands the phenomenal power of sports and how it can rally, inspire, and unite a nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a truly extraordinary man with an inspiring, against-all-odds life story. As a child, he sold tea with his father at the local train station. He also broke off an arranged marriage engagement in high school, causing strained family relations such that he had to leave home as a teenager. He simply did not believe in the concept of an arranged marriage, and stood up for his belief. To cut a long story short, Prime Minister Modi meandered through early life before finding his way as a politician. He quickly rose through the ranks to become the leader of the largest democracy in the world with 1.3 billion people.

If there is anything I have learned in life, it is that the seeds of greatness live within all of us. However, we must dare to plant these seeds into the world, and chase our dreams with passion and courage. Without action, these seeds will simply die in the graveyard when we pass away. I could have never predicted that ONE Championship would become Asia's largest global sports media property in history. I had no idea that I had the seeds of greatness in me. Luckily though, I decided when I was 37 that life was too short NOT to do what you love. You see, love is happiness. And we all deserve happiness. Martial arts is what I love. Martial arts is who I am.

Do what it is that ignites your soul. Plant your seeds of greatness, and watch them grow into something beautiful. And you will reap the harvest of happiness. Greatness lives in all of us, but we must first dare to live. So live, live, and live. And unleash your greatness upon the world.

Chatri Sityodtong is a self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist from Thailand. His rags-to-riches life story has inspired millions around the world on BBC News, CNN, Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Channel NewsAsia, Harvard Business School, Sports Illustrated, and many other major media. He is currently the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ONE Championship, Asia's largest global sports media property in history with a global broadcast to over 1 billion potential viewers across 128 countries around the world. Forbes most recently selected Sityodtong as one of Asia's next generation tycoons. He was also named "Asia's King of Martial Arts" by the Financial Times and the “Most Powerful Person in Martial Arts in Asia” by Yahoo! Sports and International Business Times. He is also an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD, Europe's top business school. Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.