AITA News .....

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Re: AITA News .....

Post by VReddy »

Given that we were discussing about the Mahesh/Buji vis-a-vis AITA / Tennis administration in India, how does one interpret Mahesh being offered the Captain position with Somdev in the rumours for a coaching role? I understand DC Captain doesn't have as much of a power but still thinking from the AITA/AK perspective, why would they take a risk by getting Mahesh into the fray here? Its not even like Mahesh really asked for it - just trying to understand the complex political setup involved and the strategy behind some of these moves :D
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Post by sameerph »

Probably it is a clever ploy by Khanna to keep Mahesh in good books, engage him in davis cup captaincy and thus, preclude Mahesh from opposing his ( or of one of his cronies) candidature when the elections take place at the end of March. I was actually expecting Mahesh to challenge to take over AITA reigns now that there is a chance or to support someone who is not in Khanna camp like Karthi Chidambaram. With this move Khanna might be nullifying that probability.

It is just a guess. :D
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Post by PKBasu »

How did Mahesh become so powerful??
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Post by sameerph »

He had made some noises a couple of years back that it will be good for players to be in the administration in Indian tennis and he is also supporting a lot of young players ( Sumit, Karman etc.). So, I am assuming that he is interested to be part of AITA regime. It is another matter if he has the power to be able to do that.
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Post by prasen9 »

Mahesh has helped many more young players than other Indian players with the exception of the BAT centre. Mahesh is also a much better businessman with an eye towards holding office, etc. You gain respect by helping other young players.
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Re: AITA News .....

Post by VReddy »

PKBasu wrote:How did Mahesh become so powerful??
Yes I meant amongst the Indian players (would use the words 'well respected' and influential more than powerful) and from probably in South Indian tennis administration (atleast TNTA, TSTA, APLTA seem very close to him). Not at the larger AITA level.

Some more criticism coming out from Karti on AITA - while some of us may see it as a rant but there is absolutely nothing wrong in what he has said. The story of Yuki and the lack of support for him is just a tragedy

Source
Karti says the top 5-6 players such as Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal, Dhakshineshwar Suresh and Nitin Sinha should be supported to travel with a common coach and trainer.

They need to play 26 tournaments, out of which at least 18 are abroad, train for 20 weeks and have six weeks of rest in a year. According to him, all this can be done in Rs three crore.

Karti said if AITA can use its influence and create a “development fund” of Rs 50 crore, it can do wonders to the game in the country.
“We should raise 50 crore as a corpus, put it in a government bank, it will give you 8 per cent interest, 4 crore a year. In 10 years, if we don’t produce players, return this money. Let us raise a tennis bond, go to 50 companies and ask for one crore each. Tell all these (state) Associations to raise one crore each. Ask all these office-bearers.

“Yuki Bhambri was junior world number one. Why we have not helped him. Why we have not given him a travelling coach? All he needed was 25000-30000 dollars. You have to back your best players and that is why we have supported Ramkumar. Instead of giving little bit to many players, you back the guy who has best potential.

“We are sending Dhakshineshwar (national U-16 champion) to Spain for training. From all India perspective, we need to back our six best players, including under-16 and under-18.
“I wrote to 50 top businesswomen who figured in Business Today to support Karman Thandi and Snehadevi Reddy. I got only one reply. When Sumit Nagal won junior Wimbledon, it was a big news.

“At that time Deepali from Well Spun Industries gave interviews, saying her company is a winner in Wimbledon since they supply towels for the tournament. I wrote to Deepali, will you consider, supporting Sumit. I did not get even a reply. Can’t they give 25 lakhs to Sumit Nagal.”

When told that AITA may face similar problems, he said, “It’s different if Karti approaches them or a Yashwant Sinha, who was finance minister.”
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Re: AITA News .....

Post by prasen9 »

The AITA can do much better and raise more money. But, raising money is not an easy job. And even if you raise the money, raising a champion is not an easy job as Karti found out with Ramkumar.
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Post by gbelday »

That's true, prasen. With all that money and resources, USTA hasn't been able to raise a champion, yet. That said, you can't raise a champion for sure without trying. What else is the purpose of AITA? Raising the amount of money Karti mentioned shouldn't be that big a deal for AITA in my opinion.
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Post by VReddy »

To quote another of Karti's statements
Asked if hosting more challenger events in India would help the local players, he negatived the suggestion.

"Challengers are a losing proposition. We have enough futures events. For holding a challenger event, we require funding of around $100,000, including prize money and expenses," the TNTA chief said.

"It would be better to use those resources for India's top five or six players to provide for their coaching and training needs abroad so that they have access to the best facilities and can hone their game further."
I was there for the final of the ITPL event in Hyderabad recently - the capacity of the stadium was 4,000 and not more than 300-500 people turned up. I spoke to about 15-20 spectators and all of them had free passes - I was the only one with the Rs 1,500 ticket. I had bought a Rs15k ticket for my mom on the first day (which got reduced to Rs 1,500 after FedX opted out) - she mentioned that there were not more than 20-30 people there. This is inspite of the likes of Sania, Rohan, Ana, Berdych, etc,. being there.

On the contrary, Hyderabad had the PBL event held about 3 weeks later at the same stadium. It was jam packed and many people had to stand with seating maxed out on both the days. I see similar packed stands in Lucknow and other venues too.

I do remember watching Tennis (WTA Hyd open, Asian Hopman Cup, etc,.) and Badminton (Asian Badminton cup, Yonex events) in Hyd about 7-10 yrs back, it was a bit of reverse. Mere presence of Sania had ensured most of the stands would have been packed - unfortunately not anymore. This is inspite of Hyderabad still holding its decent place in Indian Tennis with the likes of Sania, Saki, Pranjala, Vyshnavi, Snehadevi, Nidhi, etc,. In my limited interactions with few kids here and there in the strata where I expect tennis to be followed, I felt Tennis didn't feature as much in their plans as the other sports did. Its a small sample and I am probably overstating this but it was a bit of worrying trend for me and Karti's opinion above reasonates very strongly with mine.
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Re: AITA News .....

Post by VReddy »

gbelday wrote:That's true, prasen. With all that money and resources, USTA hasn't been able to raise a champion, yet. That said, you can't raise a champion for sure without trying. What else is the purpose of AITA? Raising the amount of money Karti mentioned shouldn't be that big a deal for AITA in my opinion.
Raising Rs 4 crores is not a big thing. If a state association like TNTA can do, surely AITA can do atleast 2-3x.

Just to put the amount in context - In Hyderabad, my local municipality elections have non-TRS (low chance of winning) party tickets sold for more than 1 crore or for example, we routine raise about Rs 8-10 lakhs for an NGO just by targeting 2 companies of 300 employees each in Hyd through donations. Maybe wrong examples but I just don't get why raising Rs 4 crores is so tough at an India level for a reasonably popular sport in the metros.
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Post by Sin Hombre »

I concur. College festivals are able to raise budgets in the crores.
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Re: AITA News .....

Post by prasen9 »

Ok. But, I don't think Karti was talking about raising 2-3x. He was talking about raising 50 crore. How long does that cover? Colleges have doting alums who feel like they have to give something back. I have been out of India for over 20 years. Young guns like Sin Hombre know better. So, in my inflation-stagnated mind, maybe that was a large amount of money. You guys know better. I am not contesting the basic premise though. AITA should do a much better job and try. Now, whether they will be able to keep raising these sums year after year despite not producing a top-50 player in the first 5 years or so, I don't know. I am also saying that even if we raise the money, whether the person will eventually grow to be a top-50 player (or even a top-100 player) is doubtful. Badminton does seem to promise better ROI for companies seeking glory.
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Re: AITA News .....

Post by Varma »

I don't think raising 50 crores for an internationally well followed and popular sport is such a big deal, if they really want to do so. If they aim for 50 cr, they might end up with 15 cr which is when you try to re-align your plan and take baby steps. The problem is not the amount, but the minds that are the helm. If a handful of people from this forum meet these bigwigs in a back alley, I can bet my bottom dollar that these guys will be beaten up to their pulp. That's how much my blood boils when I see the way these guys operate. Forget about the amount that is being asked to be spent of the top most talent of the country, if they show the accounts of AITA I am pretty sure the expenses incurred by the office bearers in the last few years will amount to more than 50 crores. Most of us here in this forum are borderline nut cases when it comes to Tennis (no offense meant) :). Why can't we run a social media campaign questioning AITA and its ways? The message has to be precise yet hit the bulls eye. Can we come up with a list of 10 questions (5 about AITA's operations and 5 about asking evidence in terms of how they have been supporting our top players/juniors)? If we even have a handful of people participating to compile and edit these questions, we can post that list to FB, Twitter, Whatsapp and see if it can reach someone (like Arnab, hopefully?) who can question the Khannas? My idea might sound crazy, but I am a part of SI...so, what else do you expect? :p

- Varma
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Post by prasen9 »

I am imagining Varma beating up Khanna (it rhymes, doesn't it?). I think I found one (Varma on the right).
Image Anyone with a better image, please post.
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Post by sameerph »

Haha. :rofl:
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