No advantage to Andhra Gymkhana

The decline of the Gymkhana, however, has little to do with sports. It was an unintended consequence of government legislation albeit with noble intent.

The 103-year-old Andhra Gymkhana is enveloped in an air of history. It was witness to the booming serves of the Australian Davis Cup captain Neale Fraser. The Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Ashok, showcased their talents here on more than one occasion.

Billiards glitterati Horace Lindrum, Bob Marshall and Ton Cleaney who showcased their astute skills on the green baize here. Wrestling bouts involving the world famous Gama livened up the atmosphere here.

But history is all that the Andhra Gymkhana can boast of today.

Sporting talent has long been absent in its portals and the once vibrant club today is quiet, like a playground after nightfall. The serves and rallies have gone and with them the steaming idlis and pesarattu-upma from its famous canteen are all a distant memory now.

The decline of the Gymkhana, however, has little to do with sports. It was an unintended consequence of government legislation albeit with noble intent. “The government’s ban on playing cards has crippled the club. Big chunks of money used come from members who played cards. They were the who’s who of the city, the Gymkhana was their favourite destination. But now that’s all in the past,” says the club’s former president Koneru Basaveswara Rao.

The clay tennis courts are now filled with pebbles. The club has no funds to maintain the courts.

Inaugurated in 1912, thanks to the initiative of V.V. Subbayya, Gudur Lakshmana Rao and Ayyagari Kaleswara Rao Pantulu, the Gymkhana promoted sports such as tennis, cricket, wrestling, billiards, snooker, football, bridge and chess for decades.

Mr. Basaveswara Rao recalls that the Gymkhana staged the prestigious East Coast tennis tournament which attracted national players for many years. “Indian players like Ramanathan Krishnan, Premjit Lal, Jaideep Mukherjea, S.P. Misra and the Amritraj brothers along with their father Robert played on the clay surface. We also hosted a Davis Cup tie between India and Vietnam in 1965 in which India blanked the visitors 4-0,” he reminisces fondly.

Andhra Pradesh Tennis Association secretary Varaprasad adds that foreign tennis players like Puncee and Ballada of Yugoslavia, Australia’s John Fraser and Spain’s Manuel Santana wielded their racquets on the clay courts here in the 70s.

The Gymkhana staged a series of national chess events in the 1990s propelling grandmasters Pendyala Harikrishna and Koneru Humpy to dizzy heights.

However, the buzz has gone. People familiar with the intensity of sporting activity at the club in yesteryears rue that visiting it today is like visiting the quiet caves in Moghalrajpuram.