SLTA bracing for bigger deeds
With the onset of the International Tennis Federation ( ITF) sanctioned Men’s Futures Tournament after a lapse of ten years, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association ( SLTA) chief, Iqbal Bin Issack believes that the country is shaping up to the next level gradually in tennis. Issack will go down in the annals of Sri Lanka tennis history as the president of the SLTA, which incidentally celebrates its one hundred years of existence -- since 1915.
Under Issack, the SLTA has progressed to what other stakeholders of tennis claim as a healthy and workable improvement, which Issack too is of the view, is essential.
As a forerunner in producing players to the professional circuit, the SLTA revived the ITF Men’s Futures Tournament, which opens the pathway beyond the amateur and novice levels. The tournament will be held in three stages, the first from February 2 to 8 at the Gymkhana courts and from February 9 to 15 and 16 to 22 at the SLTA courts in Greenpath. The total prize money on offer will be US$ 30000, divided into three on each stage.
“These tournaments cost SLTA closer to Rs 10 million. It’s good to have world class professional players involved in competitions here. We need to have these types of competitions every now and then. This is just the beginning of what we hope to progress and make it an annual event in the SLTA calendar,” Issack told the Sunday Times. The three- phased tournament conducted back- to- back without a break, has attracted a number of international players from Spain, India, Italy, United Kingdom, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Europe in addition to the top ranked Sri Lankans, who are vying for to reach the ITP professional stage. In addition to the fact that local players will be subjected to tremendous pressure from the foreigners, the SLTA thinks these tournaments will benefits the Sri Lanka Davis Cup team, which will be in action in March against the Philippines. SLTA last conducted a competition of this type a decade ago but Issack was hopeful that Sri Lanka could play host to this path- opener every year.
“This is not an annual event. We are hosting it as part of SLTA’s 100- year celebrations. In fact we resumed this competition a decade. We could not have it during this period because there weren’t enough sponsorship to meet the eventual coast. But it’s good to have ITF tournaments like these, if we are hoping to reach the next level. It’s good to have more competitions other than this. But we have been conducting ITF programmes on coaching and development,” he added.
After observing Sri Lanka’s progress on such programmes, the ITF has approved a special grant to cover part of the expenses of the second tournament, to be held from February 9 to 15, from its Grand Slam Development Fund. In addition the SLTA officials have done their thinking out-of-the-box than usual to raise funds to make this tri-phase competition a possibility.
“These tournaments were a long- felt need for the development of tennis in Sri Lanka. This would give our local players the priceless exposure and the local spectators an opportunity to witness some of the top tennis players from the international circuit in action. Though we revived it as part of our centenary- year celebrations, we have understood the importance of such tournaments here on local soil. The initiative has been taken and needs to be carried forward,” Issack pointed out.
The SLTA will have a busy 2015 both internationally and locally. Besides the ITF Asia 14 and Under Development Championship held in January and the three Men’s Futures Tournaments, Sri Lanka will be engaged in 19 other competitions. Eight of them will be held overseas while the rest is slotted to be held in Sri Lanka. In addition the SLTA courts will be the venue for the duel be- tween Pakistan and Kuwait, which the former is the host. Besides these engagements 20 tournaments will be held locally at different venues across the country. However, the main venue will be the SLTA courts at Greenpath, which is being renovated as part of its 100-year anniversary.
“As part of renovations, we have been doing up the office in addition to the newly built restaurant. We also are putting up two new rooms for the players with all facilities inside, so that they will get all the benefits. It’s in the verge of being almost competed and will be ready for the ITF Men’s Futures Tournament. We began renovations in a small scale, but eventually the total cost will come somewhere between 10 to 12 million. These may look like unnecessary, but if you look at what we have been having all these years, it’s an investment for the future,” Issack stressed while stating that fact that SLTA is gradually progressing as a sport governing body in Sri Lanka.