The new courts of Jorhat Tennis Club. Telegraph picture

Jorhat, March 31: The courts of the 100-odd-years-old Jorhat Tennis Club are now as good as new, thanks to Plexipave surfacing by a globally acclaimed firm.

Globosport India Private Limited, the company that installed Plexipave courts for Australian Open in 2009, was entrusted with the task of laying the court surface of the club. The work will be complete within a couple of days.

Plexipave is an acrylic surface coating for tennis, basketball, netball, volleyball and playground areas. It provides a uniform texture for athletes and protects the asphalt from degradation. When used on concrete, it provides a consistent texture.

“We have been working on these four courts for about a month and work will be completed in the next few days,” Rajashekara U. Bhadhya, assistant manager (project and design) of Play Sport Surfaces and Recreational Solution Pvt Ltd, a sister concern of Globosport, told The Telegraph on Saturday.

Rajashekara, who was part of the 51-member crew involved in the Australian Open project, said the company was one of the teams selected from across the world to oversee the installation on 24 courts in Australia.

The company exclusively represents Plexipave surface in India and Sri Lanka and has successfully installed over 150 courts across the country. Plexipave is the world’s largest manufacturer of acrylic sports surfacing systems and surface preparation products and has earned an international reputation for excellence and dependability. It is the choice of many world-class competitive events, including the Davis Cup, Federation Cup, San Jose Open, St Jude International, Indian Wells among others. In India, all tennis stadia built after 2000 have Plexipave courts installed by Globosport.

Rajashekara said eight layers had been laid on the Jorhat Tennis Club courts, which were now fit to hold any international event. The club would be the second venue in the Northeast to have Plexipave surface, the other being at Chachal in Guwahati, where the same company had done the job.

Jorhat Tennis Club president Raktim Saikia said the project was undertaken with financial assistance from several agencies and chief minister Tarun Gogoi had also promised help. “The superiority of the unique sports surface was instrumental in its selection for Australian Open,” Saikia said.

He said the installation of such high quality tennis courts would give an opportunity to youths to train better and maintain high standards.

The club has more than 150 students and 55 senior members. Established in 1910 on the banks of the historic Rajmao Pukhuri, it had decided to convert the existing four clay courts into synthetic ones during its centenary year. The club has already hosted a $10,000 prize-money ITF futures tournament in 2001, apart from senior nationals in 1993.