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Tennis
By Kalyan Ashok
Often a single man's vision can bring a dramatic change and when the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association offered Mr. Lakshminarayan that it was ready to conduct the ITF Futures event at Gulbarga, provided he builds a national class stadium with at least three courts, he rose to the occasion. The ITF men's event, which was originally slated to be held at Ahmedabad in June was cancelled due to the communal situation which prevailed in that city during that period and the All India Tennis Association then gave the event to KSLTA. The State Association, which in turn looked at the possibilities of conducting it in a town, which lacked proper infrastructure and what one may call a `tennis' culture. It was a calculated risk, but the KSLTA after informing Mr. Lakshminarayan, put its faith in him. "If you were at the place two months ago, you would not have believed that a stadium would come up there. There was nothing but rubble, but the DC along with his dedicated team in a matter of two months, have transformed it with a good stadium which can accommodate 3,200 spectators and three synthetic courts.'', said Mr. C.S. Sunder Raju, Secretary, KSLTA. Mr. Sunder Raju said that the new stadium for the game at Gulbarga opened new vistas for the development of the game in the region. The ITF Futures championship (from Aug. 26 to 31), would not be the end of the great effort put up by the local organisers, the KSLTA would initiate coaching programme for juniors and develop the mini tennis concept by posting a couple of coaches at Gulbarga. Mr.Sunder Raju also said that Gulbarga, after the ITF Futures, would get to see more state and National level events also. The man behind the show at Gulbarga, Mr. Lakshminarayan was modest about the achievement. "It was through team effort that we now have tennis stadium that all of us can be proud. My team included very dedicated officials such as Mr. Maheshwara Rao, CEO of Zilla Parishad, Mr. Alok Kumar, SP of Gulbarga and Mr. Manoj Kumar Kolla, District Youth Services Officer. The local MP and Mayor were fully behind our efforts. Everybody who is somebody in Gulbarga helped our cause with contributions and Stellar Constructions is footing the prize money and the total cost of construction of the Stadium and courts and running the ITF tournament will be to the tune of Rs. 75 lakhs. I am glad we are meeting the target. We will make the event a memorable one for the players", said Mr. Lakshminarayan. The Deputy Commissioner plans to use the tennis facilities as launch pad for the overall development of the region. "The very reason we built this place is to open sports access to this remote region and enhance its tourist potential as well. Another major factor for our initiative is the presence of large community of students here, Gulbarga being a major educational centre in the State. They need recreational outlet, the tennis stadium should become preferred choice. The KSLTA also has assured that the facilities that we have built here will be put to regular use and they would start a coaching prorgramme and bring more tournaments here, if they do that, our mission, I would say is fulfilled'', said Mr. Lakshminarayan.
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