Touted as the country’s first ever racquetball tournament, the Racquetball Association of India (RAI) is conducting the event in the city today and tomorrow. For a country that loves its sports as much as any other, we do however tend to get fixated on a few like cricket, tennis and badminton.
Which perhaps explains why it took three years of planning by the association to present what seems to be the first ever Racquetball tournament in the country that is taking place at Club Zeus, Lanco Hills, Manikonda.
“This will be the first raquetball tournament in the country. The whole idea is to promote the sport and make it more popular in India. We have been preparing for such an event for the past three years. Six months earlier, I had visited the courts at Lanco Hills and we decided that they have the standards to organise an international event,” says Srikaran Kandadai, president, RAI.
The tournament titled Lanco Hills India Open Racquetball Singles Championship will host 66 matches by 40 participants to be played over the weekend. “The event will also see four international players taking part – three players from the United States and one from South Korea. Sixty-six matches will be played and there are 40 participants overall, 28 of which are from Hyderabad,” he informs.
Adding that 15 to 18 players from Hyderabad are from Lanco Hills itself, Srikaran says that not all the participating players are professionals. “Among the 40 players who are participating, 10 to 12 of them have never played the sport before. They had played other racquet sports like tennis, squash and badminton, and are excited to try their hand at racquetball.” The players are divided into different categories based on their skill division which are five in total. The highest level is called Open, which is followed by A, B, C and D, further informs the 34-year-old.
A Hyderabadi himself, Srikiran is happy that the city is hosting the first Racquetball tournament in the country and is hoping to attract more international events in the future. “The courts at Lanco Hills are of top quality and that is the main reason as to why we chose Hyderabad as the venue for the event. We are just testing the waters with this event and hopefully we can attract more international events to India. An Asia Open takes place every year and the World Cup takes place once in two years, so our aim is to bring such events to India,” he says.
The president is delighted with the response so far and confirms that Lanco Hills India Open would be an annual event. “The response has been phenomenal. A lot of people have shown tremendous interest and have volunteered to be a part of this event. We can officially confirm that this will be an annual event and will take place every year in January from next year onwards,” he adds.
Learn the game
Racquetball is played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court
The serving player must bounce the ball on the floor once and hit it directly to the front wall, making the ball hit the floor beyond the short line; otherwise the serve counts as a fault
After the ball bounces behind the short line, or passes the receiving line, the ball is in play and the opposing player may play it
Points can only be scored by the serving player or serving team in a doubles game, and points are the result of winning a rally that begins with a successful serve
The match will be awarded based on best of three, with the first two games played up to 15 points and, if necessary, a third game up to 11 points
Racquetball can be played with two, three or four players. Three-player games, commonly called ‘Cut-throat’ or ‘Ironman’, are also played, beside singles and doubles, where players take turns in playing two-on-one