A serve-and-rally fest at the Kolkata Tennis League came to a smashing end
TT Bureau
Published 29.03.17, 12:00 AM
The inaugural edition of Kolkata Tennis League — presented by The Saturday Club & Homecentre in association with The Telegraph — came to a close on March 11, after a week of action-packed tennis at the Wood Street club. IIT Kharagpur, Kolkata Police Force, BSF were among the 27 teams, each with six members, who competed in the league stage, from where they progressed to the Gold, Silver and Bronze plates. t2 cheered on from the sidelines.
Gold Plate
They didn’t just have aces in their name, but also in their game. Veeline Aces won the Gold Plate. “We triumphed because of our team spirit,” said team captain-cum-coach Jaff Nayeem (far left).
Silver Plate
Tennis veteran Akhtar Ali (far right) handed over the Silver Plate to Sports Jam. “About 200 people playing tennis on weekdays is amazing to see. I have to congratulate the organising committee of The Saturday Club for pulling this off,” smiled ‘Akhtar Sir’.
Bronze Plate
What the young ’uns from Calcutta Gymkhana Tennis Club lacked in size, they made up in talent. The youngest team of the tourney finished with the Bronze Plate.
Go girls!
The all-girls team was the neutral’s favourite at the tourney. Led by Simi Suri (third from left) and coached by Shivika Burman (far left), the girl gang reached the quarter-finals of the Bronze Plate. “It was a last-minute decision to participate, so the team hardly got time to practise. Next year, we’ll prepare, practise and play!” smiled coach Shivika. The team was the brainchild of Standard Chartered,
who decided to field the team on March 8, to mark International Women’s Day.
Foreign flavour
Italy’s Francesco Bonacia of Team Sports Jam added an international touch to the league. “My father works at the Italian Consulate in Calcutta. I’ve been staying here since September,” smiled the 17-year-old after he and partner Raghav Nevatia won their Silver Plate final 6-0, 6-0.
Super coach
Bengal tennis champ Saurav Sukul felt tournaments such as these are the need of the hour. “This will give young players inspiration and motivation to practise harder,” said the player-cum-coach. “I coached four of the teams at this tourney. Two of them made the Silver Plate finals,” he smiled.
Winning moment
The Mixed Doubles duo of Shruti Dhawan (left) and Abadhya Jhunjhunwala powered past the team of Asian International to seal the deal for the Veeline Aces in the Gold Plate final.
The men behind it all
The Saturday Club president Vishal Nayar (far left) was all smiles with Atul Anand, sports convener of the club, by his side. “We’ve hosted the floodlit tennis tourney for 40-45 years now, but this was one of a kind. We’ll make it even bigger and better next year,” said Vishal. “I don’t have a trophy for the man of the tournament. But if I did, I would have given it to Sanjay Jalan,” he added. Sanjay is the tennis co-captain of the club.
SAY YO TO SAT C’S NEW YONEX COURT
If you were thinking of giving The Saturday Club Sports Carnival a miss, think again! The club has imported a brand new Yonex AC 363 rubber court from Singapore, right in time for the carnival to begin. “Ours is the only club in eastern India to have a Badminton World Federation-approved court, which is required to host an international tournament,” said club president Vishal Nayar. It was the idea of Atul Anand, sports convener of the club, to upgrade the old, wooden court to a plush, rubber mat. “I wanted to raise the bar at the club to keep up with the times. We have the sports carnival next month, so this will also give the players enough time to practise on the new court,” said Atul.
