KOCHI: Not reckoned as a traditional power when it comes to a racket and a ball, the Kerala tennis team are hoping that their hard work and dedication over the past six months or so will reflect in their performance on the court during the 35th National Games.
During this lengthy period of arduous training, each player in the camp has gained in skills, fitness and confidence, according to state coach Biju Mani who has been given the baton to train Kerala’s young tennis side at the Trivandrum Tennis Club for the showpiece event.
The men’s camp consists of Haadin Bava, Reynold Timothy, M S Krishnakumar, Jeffy Jacob, Suraj H and Arun Raj J S. Among the women’s probables, state champion Rhea Rosa John, Begum Yasmine, Sanjan Sudhir, Gayathri Sankar, Machat Jeetha Menon, Sneha Susan Thomas and Michelle Liz Robson feature. The women’s team will be finalised in the coming days.
The coach says the national rankings is the best scale to measure the progress made by the campers and they have made tremendous leaps in this regard. “We only had a single national ranked player when the camp began. But now, Haadin Bava is among the 30 best players in the country while there are 14 ranked players from Kerala in the AITA live rankings and seven of them are in top 150,” Biju notes.
After the start of the state camp, Kerala men participated in seven tournaments with Haadin winning six of them. Reynold reached the semifinals on two occasions while the Haadin-Krishnakumar pair has won three doubles titles.
Though eight states are picked for the tennis event of the National Games based on the highest number of national ranked players from the state in the top 150 of the All India Tennis Association rankings, Kerala qualified this time as hosts. But with the rise in the number of ranked players in recent months, the coach says they would have qualified for the Games even otherwise.
Kerala has realistic chances of winning a medal in the Games, feels Biju. They will begin in the quarterfinal stages and if they can prevail in the two singles and a doubles match in this stage, they will ensure a bronze by reaching the semis.
“We are still to find out the opponents for the quarters. But I think the men’s team can at least reach the last four,” the coach says, adding that Rhea, Sanjana and Gayathri are players who can spring surprises in the women’s competition.
Long term planning
Kerala Tennis Association secretary Thomas Paul says that it was long term planning from the association that has helped in the game prospering in the state. “We were one of the first sports disciplines to start the camp for National Games and had everything planned impeccably,” says Thomas.
“Support from the Kerala State Sports Council, National Games Secretariat and Trivandrum Tennis Club has been brilliant,” he says, adding that the association aims to have 25 players in the top 150 in the country by the end of 2016.