BENGALURU: The executive committee of Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) formed in mid-February, finally met for the first time on Thursday with Tennis star Rohan Bopanna assuming his role as vice-president and head of development committee.
“Rohan brings in a lot of expertise and value, which is good for KSLTA. He also wants to catch the players young and work on them. The development committee will look into how players can emerge from the state. They will see what needs to be done. It could be camps, competition etc. The committee will create a blueprint,” said Sunil Yajaman, KSLTA joint-secretary.
Though the body announced a long term goal of ‘Vision 2030’, officials will focus on development of the sport and players during their tenure of four years and will reach out at the school level to try and encourage more children to play the sport and provide them enough space to do so.
The KSLTA also wants to have set up state and regional camps and are open to rendering financial support to promising players. In terms of infrastructure, they want to create a tennis complex in Bengaluru as well.
“We are going to talk to the education and sports departments and try to ensure that there are tennis courts in rural places, allowing tennis to grow in these areas. We want more public courts. Once kids start playing, we are going to have our eyes everywhere and hunt for talent. We are looking to establish this from the grassroots so that we have a solid set-up,” added Yajaman.
Besides, the state body also aims to have a high performance centre, where select players will be provided training. Their education will also be looked after. These players will also be sent for tournaments with coaches.