E-Kantipur

MAR 13 - In Nepal, any sport suffers from the national disease of infrastructure-deficiency. And when it’s a sport like tennis, the perception that it is accessible to certain sections of the society only due to its costly nature has further hampered the game’s development in the country.

In order to find a solution to this impeding problem, the All Nepal Lawn Tennis Association (ANLTA) with assistance from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) two years ago launched an ambitious programme--Junior Tennis Initiative--aimed at developing tennis from the grassroots. As part of the plan, ANLTA provides all the necessary equipment needed for the game and coaches for interested schools, conducts tournaments on a regular basis around the year, and competes in junior level international tournaments twice a year.

The project has been running successfully with 12 schools and five clubs from Kathmandu and Pokhara under its scanner, says ANLTA senior coach Surya Bhusan Bajracharya. “With the introduction of the programme, tennis is no longer an affluent man’s game as it used to be a couple of years ago.” Bajracharya has reasons to justify his claims; in the last junior tournament--the Jayakar Memorial Junior Tennis Championship--organised by the ANLTA in December, more than 187 participants competed in various age group categories, a figure that has more than doubled in the last five years.

Mass participation is certainly not the only thing that indicates the development of the game; quality is a bigger factor. But ALNTA has also been quite successful in achieving that. “Until a few years ago, most of the participants in the junior tournaments had a hard time serving, but it’s not a problem now. And most importantly, they can rally,” Bajracharya adds.

ANLTA president Manoj Rana is satisfied with the way things are going for the last two years but wants to achieve much more than this. “There is more we should achieve,” he says. Rana has plans to build a residential tennis academy and add more courts at the ANLTA premises in Satdobato to produce quality players.

His plans to add four more courts are on the verge of materialising but the academy is still a long way to go. The four courts will be construc-ted, thanks to Nepal Investment Bank, Dinesh Tuladhar of Nepal Hima, and Rana himself,

who have pledged to build two and one each respectively. With the addition of more courts, ANLTA has plans to host junior international tournaments.

In this context, the Post spoke to Suresh Menon, the regional ITF Development Director. Menon was pleased to see more youngsters being involved in the game but wants quality players in the years to come. “I am satisfied with the way ANLTA is conducting various tournaments and involving more youths in the game but I would like to see quality players in the years to come.” Menon also pledged to provide more support to ANLTA in its endeavour to develop tennis in Nepal.

Besides the support required to develop youth tennis, ITF has been sending Nepali coaches for trainings abroad. This has certainly helped Nepal to be updated with the latest training techniques of the game.

Krishna Ghale and Surya Bhusan Bahjracharya are the few Nepali coaches that have acquired an international degree in tennis and have been passing on their knowledge to local tennis instructors in the country by

organising coaching clinics in and outside Kathmandu.

ANLTA has rolled up its sleeves to work for the development of the game that had been overlooked in the long history of the association in country. Besides Nepal’s quarterfinal berth in the team event in the Asian Games back in 1986 in South Korea and Sujay Lama’s historic berth in junior Wimbledon, the association has nothing to

brag about. But with this sort of programme aimed at developing tennis from the grassroots, there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel for ANLTA.

Posted on: 2010-03-13 09:09

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.
* Full Name
* Address
* Email Address
* Comment
* Captcha	Get another CAPTCHA code
Note:	Comments containing abusive words or slander shall not be published.