The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : City has plenty of choices

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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

City has plenty of choices

Kalyan Ashok

BANGALORE: Bangalore is blessed with several top notch tennis training centres. While some of them like the Nike Bhupathi Tennis Village and HPTC, run by the KSLTA, cater to a niche segment, there are many private academies which offer professional help to aspiring youngsters.

Bhupathi’s Tennis Village, which was started on a modest scale over a decade ago, has grown in terms of facilities and stature. The Tennis Village is located in Kodigehalli off Bellary Road and, according to renowned coach Krishna Bhupathi, father of Indian ace, Mahesh, it has been running several programmes for grassroot players, advanced and elite group of players.

The Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy, floated by Mahesh himself, has now tied up with Apollo Tyres “Mission 2018’ initiative. Tennis Village has a noted panel of coaches and physical trainers, including former Davis Cupper Prahlad Srinath and Moses Navarra, travelling coach of Mahesh Bhupathi, and Kopi, a former physical trainer of Maria Sharapova and Nalbandian.

The High Performance Training Centre (HPTC), as the name suggests, is a specialised centre run by the KSLTA and managed by Zygo Sports. It has former national player Anjan Viplav as the head coach, and according to Sunil Yajman, Director of Zygo Sports, the centre has a mix of advanced players and young ones with talent. Though it is run with the support of the KSLTA, HPTC is aiming to become a self-sustaining programme.

The KSLTA conducts its own training programme for its regular wards and summer camps at the KSLTA Stadium courts and Sree Kanteeerava Stadium courts under coach Niranjan Ramesh. “We, on an average, get around 150 to 200 children every summer,” said the coach.

Krishna Kumar, an IITian-turned-coach due to his passion for the game, runs Kinesis Academy which has three main centres — in Whitefield, Kempapura Main Road and in Hennur. Krishna Kumar is a USPTR certified coach and his centres follow the USPTR methods,

B.R. Priyadarshi trains his wards at the Maharaja Chamaraja Wodeyar courts at Palace Grounds. A former State champion, and highly respected coach, he has five clay courts at his disposal. Sashi Kanbargimath’s KIMS Academy is another popular training centre located at the Indian Gymkhana in Cox Town. KIMS also has two synthetic courts at its disposal besides a clay court.

Besides these centres, many private clubs have their own courts and offer training.

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