MSLTA Activity Report 2020-2021
It gives me pleasure to present the MSLTA Secretary’s Report for the year 2020-2021.
One event that dominated in 2020 – COVID a deadly and previously unknown virus wreaked havoc across the globe, killing more than 1.5 million people, infecting many more and causing economic devastation.
The speed of the Coronavirus spread has been matched only by the pace of scientific insights, Covid affected personal lives of every person including Sportspersons, Sports across the globe stood at standstill.
Its impact have had, careers put on hold and sports persons losing 1 important year in their careers. The Tokyo Olympics scheduled was postponed by a year so were many World Championships and major sporting events globally.
Despite the problems created due to frequent lockdowns MSLTA and its council members have ensured that our players got some events.
We at MSLTA were in constant touch with the Government of Maharashtra to ensure that Tennis resumed across the state, we wrote numerous letters to government and Tennis was one of the very few sports to get permissions to start activities, we would like to extend our thanks to the Govt of Maharashtra for their efforts in resumption of our sport .
The beginning of 2021 brought hope that life would resume normally and so would tennis in the state. The situation showed promise and we were able to start tennis activities. Tennis coaching, daily practice, social tennis in the entire state.
The problems we faced in 2020 seemed to be past us, and players who spent time practicing in 2020 were raring to go. As MSLTA we also started competition at the local /zonal level with many tournaments and leagues played. District level events were in full boom.
Maharashtra players excelled in the AITA and the ITF Junior events , MSLTA helped many of the junior players to get wildcards at the events and our players justified by performing well and gaining valuable ITF points.
I would also like to pay my sincere respect and homage to one of the stalwarts of MSLTA and our former President Ghanshyam Patel who passed away due to old age, MSLTA will ever remember the contributions of Ghanshyambhai as he was affectionately addressed
I would like to highlight some of our activities for the Year 2020 - 2021
- Tournaments Records
MSLTA conducted 7 tournaments from April 2020 – March 2021 which consisted of 2 International tournaments 5 AITA ranked events (which included 2 Nationals tournaments, 3 Talent Series) and 1 Training Camps for various age group players.
Mumbai region hosted 4 events and Pune Region hosted 4 events which included 2 International and 1 AITA Tournament.
We also took up a challenge to ensure resumption of International professional sport in India by hosting 2 ITF events one for Mens and one for Women at Deccan Gymkhana Club in Pune , these events were fully sponsored by KPIT Technologies with support of AITA and SAI thanks to our Vice President Kishor Patil .The PMDTA team , our VP Viswas Lokare , Council member Ashwin Girme for successful back to back events . The 25K women’s event was the first event in Asia after 16 months. The events helped our Indian players to gain valuable points. Our players Arjun Kadhe and Rutuja Bhosale won the doubles titles at the ITF events.
MSLTA rose to the occasion to help AITA host 2 national events the Under 12 and Under 14 events at MSLTA which were conducted under strict protocols and without any incidents for which credit should go to our CEO Manoj Vaidya and the Staff of MSLTA . The event was beneficial with Maharashtra Players doing well.
MSLTA COACHING ACTIVITIES AND WORKSHOPS
- Players Workshop, Camp and Initiatives
Camps
- MSLTA Heroes Camp 2020 at MSLTA, Mumbai
As gatherings or camps were prohibited during the pandemic we avoided hosting of sub junior and junior camps , however as the Men’s and the Women’s International circuit resumed most of the players were devoid of practice and MSLTA hosted the camp for professional players not only from Maharashtra but India
Mens: 1. Purav Raja, 2. Arjun Kadhe, 3. Aryan Goveas, 4. Jeevam Nedunchezhiyan, 5. Dhruv Sunish, 6. Sahil Gaware
Womens: 1. Mahak Jain, 2. Mihika Yadav, 3. Bhakti Shah, 4. Sathwika Sama
Other Initiatives
- Junior Tennis Leagues
NIWEC Tennis Premier League
NIWEC Club, Nashik organized the NIWEC Tennis Premier League (NTPL) on 26th Jan’21. 160 players took part in the innovative one-day event. 10 teams comprising of 12 players each were drawn into 2 groups.
Ichalkaranji Junior Tennis League 2021
Ichalkaranji Tennis Association organizes First ever Ichalkaranji Junior Tennis League 2021.In all 36 local junior players divided in four teams participated in this competition. This tournament was played over a period of five week-ends. The prizes were given away at the hands of Shri.Baba Bhonsle, MLA Shri. Prakash Awade, Shri. Sheetal Bhonsale,(Council Member, MSLTA), Sunil Patil ; Rajendra Nimbalkar ,Ajit Kulkarni, all team sponsors, participating players and their parents were present in large numbers. Coach Siraj Sheikh organized the tournament successfully.
COACHING ACTIVITIES
- G.A.RANADE TENNIS CENTRE, COOPERAGE:
MSLTA School of tennis runs following coaching programmes. Mr. Manoj Vaidya ITF Level 3 (AITA Level 7) Coach & Tutor is the Chief Coach overseeing the coaching program
- a) Advance Group: This group consists of players who are successfully performing at State and National level. There are 15 trainees in this Group.
- b) Mini Tournament Group: This is a group of selected trainees who have the potential to perform better and have the talent to come up at National and International level. There are 20 trainees in this group.
- c) Regular Coaching: Aim of this scheme is to introduce tennis to youngsters, College Students and Adults. There are about 200 trainees in this group. Five years is the minimum age to enroll in this group.
- Players Achievements
Our emphasis to grow tennis at the grass roots with focus on our junior players is bearing fruits, it gives immense me pleasure that it has been great contribution and team work shown by the entire tennis fraternity across the state.
MSLTA Player Performances:
Vaishnavi Adkar was selected To Represent India at Junior French Open 2020 (Roland Garros) Wild Card Playoffs in Paris. Her entry to the French Open 2020 (Roland Garros) wild card tournament in Paris was a result of her winning the Roland Garros Junior Wild Card Series 2020(Under 18 category) in Delhi. She also won the girls singles and doubles title at the ITF Juniors grade 5 held in indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Arjun Kadhe won the 2020 Hard Court National Championship in Gurugram, Haryana. He also won the doubles title at M15 Egypt, ITF 25K Men’s doubles championship in Villena, Spain and KPIT MSLTA ITF $15K Men’s Tennis Tournament, Deccan Gymkhana, Pune.
Rutuja Bhosale won the singles$15,000 ITF women’s event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt and doubles title KPIT MSLTA ITF $25K Women’s Tennis Tournament, Deccan Gymkhana, Pune. Bhosale also represented India in the Fed Cup team that got promoted to the World Group Playoff
RutujaChapalkar and HrudayaShah won the doubles title at the ITF Juniors J4 in Delhi.
Anargha Ganguly won Boys Doubles Title at the ITF Juniors J4 Tournament held in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Gargi Pawar won the ITF grade 5 junior Girls doubles title at Indore and ITF J5 junior Girls doubles title at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
RumaGaikwari won the Girls Doubles Title at the ITF J5at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
National Winner and Runner-ups from Maharashtra 20-21
Arjun Kadhe Men’s 2020 Hard Court National Champion Gurugram
Sandesh Kurale Singles Winner – Sub Junior National (Under 18), Indore,
Asmi Adkar Winner Singles – Mini Junior National at Mumbai.
Aishwarya Jadhav Doubles Winner – Mini Junior National at Mumbai,
Officials from Maharashtra
Maharashtra boasts of maximum number of International Tennis officials which include 2 Gold Badge, 3 Bronze Batch, 1 Silver Batch Chief of Official, 1 Chief of Official 4 ITF White Badge Referees, 6 ITF White Batch officials and 32 National Supervisors.
Some of the notable achievements of the officials include International Officials Mr. Nitin Kannamwar and Mrs. Sheetal Iyer, Gold Badge referees officiated at International Tournaments.
Supriya Chatterjee was nominated National Female Ambassador for Tennis Officiating.
It was tough year not only for players but also the tennis officials, but the Tennis Officials under the banner of Tennis Officials India contributed and distributed funds to the needy lines officials and officials which is well appreciated
- Other Notable Achievements of MSLTA Coaches and Officials
Coaches
Mr. Nandan Bal
Mr. Nandan Bal was nominated and later received the prestigious Dhyan Chand Award – 2020 for lifetime achievement and contributions towards promotion of Tennis by the Government of India at the hands of President Shri Ramnath Kovind MSLTA is proud of Mr. Nandan Bal.
MSLTA Councilors:
- Shri Bharat Oza, President MSLTA has been elected as Senior Vice President of AITA (2020 – 2024).
- Shri Sunder Iyer, Hon. Secretary MSLTA has been elected as the New Joint Secretary of AITA (2020 – 2024), All India Tennis Association ,
- He was nominated as the manager of the Indian Davis Cup team against Pakistan to at Nur Sultan (Astana) Kazakhstan on November 29-30 2020, and also the World Group Playoff at Croatia
- Executive Committee member of the Maharashtra Olympic Association (2017-2021).
Other Ongoing Initiatives
- MSLTA App and Online entry System has become popular with over 2000 registrations.
- New Website which is vibrant and covers all news, currently it has over 5, 00,000 hits.
- Online Court booking Facility at MSLTA, Mumbai.
- Use of Social Media like Twitter and Facebook for tournaments and player promotions.
- Financial Help to Maharashtra Players
- Financial Help for conduct of National and International events in Maharashtra.
I would like to thank all our affiliated Members for successfully conducting tournaments of state, national and international ranking.
We are grateful to
- All India Tennis Association.
- Sponsors, who sponsored our tournaments and players.
- Government of Maharashtra and Department of Sports for their support.
- The Press and Media across Maharashtra for supporting all our activities and promoting the sport of tennis.
- MSLTA Council Members, Members of MSLTA Sub Committees for the valuable contribution towards growth of tennis in Maharashtra.
- To the coaches, officials and Secretaries of various affiliated clubs for the support.
I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to my Office Bearer Colleagues Shri Sharad Kannamwar (Life President) , Shri Bharat Oza (President), Shri Sudhir Bhiwapurkar (Treasurer), Shri Rajiv Desai , Shri Rajeev Deshpande (Jt Secretaries), Life Vice Presidents Shri AnandTulpule Shri Bhalchandra Bhagwat , Shri Mohan Varde .
Vice Presidents Shri Vishwas Lokare , Shri Prashant Sutar , Shri Pradeep Joshi , Shri Kishore Patil , Dr. Dilip Rane, Justice Arvind Savant (Retd) , Our Council Members from accoss the state Shri Milind Deshpande , Shri ShivomMor , Shri SheetalBhonsale , Shri. Abhishek Tamhane , Shri Rajesh Belani, Shri Ali Panjwani , Smt. Varsha Swamy, , Shri Joy Kapur , Shri Luv Kothari , Shri Ashwin Girme , Shri Amit Shroff , Shri Ajit Rodrigues , Shri Deepak Pandit , Shri Shyam Belani ,Shri Manik Mandlik and Shri Yogesh Parulekar
For MSLTA
Sunder Iyer
Hon. Secretary
