Sports firm Spartan 'defaults' on Rs 20cr payments to Dhoni

Sports company Spartan International has allegedly defaulted on payments worth Rs 20 crore to M S Dhoni, which were due to India's ODI and T20 captain according to a sponsorship deal between the two.
Sources told TOI that the Australia-based Spartan, founded by Kunal Sharma, had signed Dhoni for his bat's endorsement in December 2013 and the three-year deal was worth Rs 12 crore per year.

The company allegedly made regular payments for the first few months, after which the money slowed to a trickle. Spartan allegedly released "small tokens" ­ cheques worth Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh ­ and even offered a business proposal to Brand Dhoni.
When TOI tried to contact Sharma, he was unavailable for comment. Incidentally , Sachin Tendulkar recently entered into a commercial arrangement with Spartan as an investor and a member on its advisory board.
Despite repeated reminders from Rhiti Sports, which manages Dhoni, Spartan has not cleared its dues."If you add up the money till the end of this year, the amount would be close to Rs 30 crore," a source said on Thursday .
The reply to the email sent to Sharma's official ID simply said: "...Will not have any access to my emails until I return to the office on July 15." Calls and messages went unanswered.
Spartan's representatives in India also refused to make any comment.
The Spartan Cricket Club, an arm of Spartan International, claims to have top stars including Chris Gayle, Dhoni and Eoin Morgan, as its ambassadors.
It is learnt that Rhiti Sports is now mulling legal action against Spartan, and may also lodge a complaint with the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council regarding the default on payments.
"Everything is not smooth and hopefully the matter will be resolved soon," Arun Pandey, boss of Rhiti Sports, was quoted as saying by PTI.