Hyderabad: As the news of the complete capitulation of the Indian tennis contingent at Tokyo Olympics began to sink in – even as the Badminton hopes are high for a sui generis and first gold – sportspersons, parents, coaches and fans blame the gormless atavistic attitudes and policies of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and its state bodies.
Consider the ban imposed by the Telangana State Tennis Association, the state chapter of the AITA, on the local tournaments being played across the state.
“It has been observed that there are private local tennis tournaments being organised in Telangana. The organisers of such tournaments need to be informed that without the prior approval or sanction the TSTA, such tournaments are not permitted to be organised as per AITA guidelines,” the body said in a note on February 10, 2021.
“I tried to organise a tennis tournament,” said Gopi, a coach. “The association tried to arm-twist saying I could not. Then they demanded I make a payment for permission. Even to coach, one must be registered with them, for which we have to pay.”
Last year, in a notice issued to presidents, secretaries, and other affiliates of the AITA on October 3, 2020, association secretary-general Anil Dhupar said local tennis tournaments are being played across the country under the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) and other non-sanctioned tournaments, with registered AITA players participating in them.
The association said, “these kinds of (tennis) tournaments being conducted without knowledge or permission of AITA are strictly banned.” It asked “smaller authorities” to “refrain from encouraging” any kind of local tennis tournaments.
The AITA further threatens that “if it comes across any more local tournaments, further action will be taken against players or entities conducting tournaments by de-recognizing or de-registering them from AITA.”
Yes, if you wish to organise a tournament for children in Telangana, you can’t. Take permission from the TSTA first. Ideal recipe for a gold medal in the Olympics. If you raise your voice, the association has a long memory; which will not help your players, or children. So most parents keep quiet.
Not all parents get intimidated by the machinations though. The issue got highlighted after some parents petitioned against the move and raised concerns about their children’s sports future.
The principal petitioner, Chakravarthy Nalamotu, who is a parent of a young tennis player, managed to get the petition signed by parents from across the country, including many from Hyderabad, Manipal, Patna, and from outside the borders, including the USA and Africa.
He said that the UTR (Universal Tennis Rating — a rating system that rates a person on the basis of his playing skills, irrespective of age or gender) is one of the criteria considered by universities in the United States and other countries for accepting students.
“To get a good UTR rating, our children and other players play matches conducted by ITF. But AITA, which is a semi-government body, has blatantly declared that players can be playing only under tournaments conducted by AITA,” Nalamotu said.
Agreeing to this point, Dave Fish, tennis coach at Harvard University, who supported the petition, said, “The UTR system is now being recognized by many college coaches as the best metric available for judging junior talent.”
The parents requested the AITA to either tie-up with UTR, like the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), and United States Tennis Association (USTA) have done, to encourage and motivate the children, or let the children play tournaments that are based under both the AITA and UTR.
Speaking about the game of tennis and its importance in the lives of their children, Nalamotu said, “The game of tennis comes to life when tournaments are organized. Children get to practice because of these tournaments.”
“So, I wrote to AITA and Telangana State Tennis Association (TSTA) to organize tournaments after the lockdown was lifted. But there was no response from their side,” he added.
He also said that he came across some people who organized these kinds of local tournaments, but were buffed off by the TSTA and AITA, who demanded and extracted money from them. “AITA and TSTA won’t reply to us, but they will call people who will organize local tournaments, threaten them, and extract money from them,” he added.
Another petitioner, who is also a tennis coach and has been stopped from conducting or organizing tournaments at a local level, said, “We used to do tournaments under the India Tennis League (ITL) at the local level. We then shifted to UTR level tournaments in 2018 to help them offer a window to look into their playing capability and increase their game, taking it to another level.”
“But last year, around 2020 September, I was told not to conduct any tournaments at the local level. I was asked on what basis we were conducting these tournaments, and this move backfired for many young players and their parents who were hoping for good UTRs,” he added.
“Many rumours spread saying AITA will ban players who will play under UTR tournaments because of which parents got scared that their children will be de-registered from AITA,” he said.
“But we told them not to worry and added that they can send their children to these tournaments whenever they are strongly ready,” he added. He also said that due to these local tournaments, many players have benefitted, adding that many of them are now at good rankings.
“AITA banning these local tournaments is a setback for all players. Local tournaments give good practice to the players, thus making them strong enough to compete at state, national as well as international levels,” the coach added.
Another coach, who organised a tourney last year at a school, when told by the association to stop his tournament paid up a “fee” to go ahead. Another tournament being organised by the academy of a famous player chose not to confront the association and cancelled it.
By stopping local initiative and conduct of tournaments, the biggest enemy of excellence is the association, whose bureaucracy seeks power over the game rather than care for results.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Ashok Kumar, hon. secretary, TSTA, said, “if something goes wrong in these tournaments people will come to us, which is why we banned it.”
He justified the ban but added, “we care for tennis more than anything else. We want all coaches and tournaments to seek permission three weeks before they organise it.”
No doubt, with so much association power, the Indian team crashed out of the Olympics. It was not a loss of the players but the failure of the association.