The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : New chief coach for Kochi MBTA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 11, 2006

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New chief coach for Kochi MBTA

KOCHI: After two months of uncertainty and confusion, Kochi's Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy will have a new chief coach.

Jacob Varghese, the chief coach when the MBTA opened its training base at the Regional Sports Centre here in January, left for Gujarat around two months ago to tend to his ailing wife. And when assistant coach Prasad also quit a couple of weeks ago, the trainees — nearly a hundred — and their parents were clearly unhappy.

But there is some good news now. "We have selected a new chief coach — Keerthi from Bangalore, and he will joining in Kochi in two months," said Chetan Mukesh, MBTA's GM (Operations) from Bangalore on Thursday. "He needs time to wind up things here, that's the reason for the delay."

The MBTA is also looking for an assistant coach for its Kochi branch, the first in the South after the Bangalore headquarters.

Apart from local coach G. Ramamurthy, the MBTA is now running its Kochi show by sending a coach from Bangalore on short ten-day stints.

With the announcement of the new coach, there is now hope for some continuity and consistency in training. — Principal Correspondent

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