Review of Preparation for London Olympic Games-2012- Tennis

Review of Preparation for London Olympic Games-2012- Tennis
Rs. 1.59 Crore Sanctioned to 7 Tennis-Players for Training

                An amount of Rs. 1.59 crore has been sanctioned so far under ‘Operation Excellence for London Olympics 2012’ (OPEX 2012) scheme through National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) for the training of Tennis players till December 2011. This was stated by All India Tennis Association (AITA) Executive Director Col. R.S. Chauhan, in review meeting of the preparation for Olympics, 2012, called by Shri Ajay Maken, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. As all the Tennis players in the core group are professionals, they have been provided US $ 6000/- per month as financial assistance under NSDF scheme (06 men +01 women) for meeting expenses for their training and competitions under NSDF scheme. The details of these players are as follows:

S.N.	Name of the Player	Approval Under OPEX	Amount sanctioned till December, 2011	Remark
1.	Leander Paes	USD 6000/- Per Month For 14 Months	42,000 US $	For hiring personal coach  etc.
2.	Mahesh Bhupathi	USD 6000/- Per Month For 14 Months	42,000 US $	For hiring personal coach  etc.
3.	Sania Mirza	USD 6000/- Per Month For 13 & Half Months	39,000 US $	For hiring personal coach  etc.
4.	Somdev Devvarman	USD 6000/- Per Month For 24 Months	87,000 US $	For hiring personal coach  etc.
5.	Rohan Bopanna	USD 6000/- Per Month For 13 Months	36,000 US $	For hiring personal coach  etc.
6.	Yuki Bhambri	USD 6000/- Per Month For 13 Months	36,000 US $	For hiring personal  coach, ravel grant etc
7.	Sanam Singh	USD 6000/- Per Month For 13 Months	36,000 US $	For hiring personal  coach, travel grant etc
	TOTAL		US $ 3,18,000 (Rs. 1.59 crore approximately)

               

          Besides, two more players, namely, Isha Lakhani and Rituja Bhonsle have been sanctioned an amount of US $ 3000/- per month for training grants, hiring of trainer, etc, with effect from January, 2012.

                      In the meeting the Sports Minister also stressed the need to create structure of domestic tournaments, which might, among other things, also, help in improving the international rankings of the     Indian   players. The Minister also assured full support of the Ministry for establishing the such structure of domestic tournaments.

                AITA officials also appraised Sh. Maken about the manner in which the qualification for Olympics in Tennis takes place. The qualification is based on ITF World ranking of a player on a certain date and the date for which rankings will be considered for this year’s events is 14.06.2012. It was also stated by AITA that in order to optimise the likelihood of qualification, all players will be playing the major International matches approved by the ITF to gain maximum ranking points. 

                It was also discussed in the meeting that there is a need to identify the best possible doubles and mixed-doubles combinations to whom tournament-intensive training can be given because the chances to finish on podium are more in Men’s doubles and Mixed doubles events.

                Four Tennis players from India qualified for Beijing Olympic Games, 2008. Sania Mirza participated in both Women’s singles and Women’s doubles; her partner in the latter was Sunitha Rao. Sania Mirza lost in round of 64 in individual events while in doubles she and Sunitha Rao reached the Round of 16. Mahesh Bhupati and Leander Paes were participants in Men’s doubles category and together they went to the Quarter Finals.