Tennis, considered the sport of the elite and hitherto restricted to the members of tennis club in the district, was thrown open to poor school students with the district unit of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) appointing full time coach for the racket sport.
For several years, school students who visited the Seethakathi Sethupathi stadium for honing their skills in various sports such as hockey, volleyball, cricket and swimming, were deprived of entering the tennis courts as the arena was restricted to the members of the tennis club.
On Thursday evening, a batch of school students in the age group of 7 to 14 years were allowed to enter into the synthetic tennis courts to test their skills or learn the sport under the watchful eyes of newly appointed coach P. Kalaignanam from Madurai.
“We have decided to focus on badminton and tennis, the sports suited for the physique of the local boys and the appointment of the full time coach for tennis is aimed at identifying young talents,” District Sports and Youth Welfare Officer P. Frank Paul Jayaseelan said.
The SDAT proposed to make tennis open for students in rural areas, who never had an opportunity to play the game, he said. As they proposed to draw more students for coaching, SDAT has proposed to set up two clay courts in addition to the existing two synthetic courts, he said.
The boys were taught basic techniques on the first day, he said adding the very purpose of appointing a full time coach was to achieve results.
The State government offered ₹. 25 lakh to those who won medals at the national level for coaching in foreign countries, he also said.
Under the champions’ development scheme, boys under the age of 14 years would be selected based on their talents for intense coaching, he said. The coaching would be given in cooperation with the district tennis club. The SDAT also proposed to train young talents in fishing hamlets on water sports, he added.
