Loud cheers accompanied by thwacks from tennis racket and audibles from players, resulting from their efforts to send the ball to other side of the court, is what defined a typical winter morning at Sri Venkateswara University (SVU), here on Saturday.
It was a fabulous display of tennis from the youngsters, during the concluding day of ‘South Zone Inter-University Tennis Tournament (Men) – 2017’, as four universities, who had already qualified for the nationals, battled intensely for the top four rankings. This enthusiasm, among the players and people witnessing the match, seemed infectious as India’s foremost tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan expressed his elation over the number of youngsters taking part in the tournament.
‘Good sign’
“For any tennis player, ‘coaching, training and competition’ are three important aspects responsible for development of their game. Adherence to this ‘formula’ (and even minor tweaks to make it better) would produce good players. It is delightful to see so many youngsters pursuing tennis with utmost passion and this is a good sign for the country,” he remarked.
Mr. Krishnan stressed on encouraging the upcoming players with appropriate sponsorships so that economic conditions would not be a deterrent to talent. He added that several aspects of tennis, including basic coaching/advanced coaching, had become a costly affair and asserted that it was imperative to support the talent to produce players of international repute.
Mr. Ramanathan opined that it had a lot to catch up with rest of the world in tennis. Pressing for the inclusion of sports in the curriculum, Mr. Ramanathan said special marks should be given to the youngsters who performed well in their respective sports and enable them to pursue their ambitions with renewed vigour. He urged parents of young sportspersons to ensure that their children are not pressured by expectations.
SVU’s Director of Physical Education D. Krishnamurthy elucidated on the measures taken to revamp the sports infrastructure at the varsity. “The stretch from the varsity’s gate 2 and 3 are being developed as volleyball, basketball and tennis courts.,” he said. Mr. Krishnamurthy added that the existing gymnasium would be transformed into a world-class facility with funds from Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).
. Chittoor District Collector P.S. Pradyumna, accompanied by SVU Vice Chancellor Prof.A. Damodaram and other officials, tried his hand at tennis and later presented the winners with trophies.
