Bhubaneswar, Jan. 21: Tennis in Odisha is not dealing in serves and volleys and this is being reflected in the performance of players at the national level.

Starting from coaching issues, poor infrastructure to multiple associations controlling the sport in the state, players have more off-court issues to battle than just the tennis ball.

As per national rankings released in December 2011, only three players from the state hold positions in the top 50. Avilash Mishra is ranked 44 in U-14 boys, Tanmayee Pattnaik 42 in U-12 girls and in both women’s singles and doubles Seeulee Upadhyay is rated 29 and 32, respectively. Sadly, there are no Odia players in the U-16 and men’s top 50 rankings.

Though lack of proper infrastructure is a major handicap for Odia players, the state boasts of five major tennis bodies — Odisha Tennis Association (OTA), Bhubaneswar District Tennis Association (BDTA), Khurda District Tennis Association, Ganjam District Tennis Association and District Tennis Association, Keonjhar.

Most of these associations groom players on courts that are not the best for professional players. Very few private facilities such as Gurukul Tennis Academy, Mendhashal (near Bhubaneswar) and the Odisha Tennis Academy provide decent infrastructure for professional players.

Though Kalinga Stadium here has a major tennis complex with six hard and two clay courts, where more than 100 youngsters train, there are no synthetic courts. The cement courts are now outdated. Senior professionals feel that this is a major reason for the fall in the standards of the game.

“I have been complaining about cement courts for the last 10 years but to no avail. The state’s sports authorities must take the initiative to lay synthetic mats on these courts,” said well-known tennis coach Subhranshu Charan Sarangi, who runs the Odisha Tennis Academy in the city.

“The Kalinga Stadium authorities can adopt a ‘pay and play’ scheme so that the monopoly of coaches who have captured the courts is taken care of,” he added.

Sarangi said some of the coaches are not even qualified as per International Tennis Federation (ITF) standards but earn Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 every month from each student.

Sarangi, however, prefers paying for the court at a major private hotel to groom his students.

The other major debate that crops up whenever the fate of the game is discussed is the role of the OTA and the BDTA — the two associations that mostly control the game in the state.

Headed by bureaucrats, these two associations dictate terms at the Kalinga Stadium while the Directorate of Sports is still in the “planning” mode to take steps for the development of the game. In fact, two clay courts at the stadium are solely managed by the BDTA.

“Our members are veteran tennis players themselves, so what if some of them are also bureaucrats. The fact is that we have been raising funds and maintaining all the courts at Kalinga Stadium,” said Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, president of BDTA and chairman of Omfed.

“Moreover, clay courts need regular rolling and watering for which we spend almost Rs 2 lakh annually. We are liberal and allow tournaments to be held there,” he said.

Madhusudan Padhi, the secretary of state food and civil supply and consumer affairs and OTA secretary, said his association had groomed coaches who train players at Kalinga Stadium. But the trainers now coach on their own.

“They are now not allowing any individual to practise there. We have proposed to the Directorate of Sports to allow the OTA to manage the six hard courts to hold proper coaching,” he said.

The coaches, however, have a different take on the issue. 'Most of us have played in national level tournaments organised in Odisha. Since there is no proper facility in the state to get qualified in coaching from an ITF recognised institute, we are trying to guide upcoming talents,” said a young coach at the Kalinga Stadium.

Significantly, state director of sports and BDTA member Saswat Mishra said the state of coaching in tennis was no different from other games in the state. Therefore, it would not be proper to single it out.

“When the sports department advertised for qualified coaches in archery, we did not receive any applications fulfilling the required eligibility criteria. Same is the case with almost all other sports such as cricket or football. So why blame tennis coaches?” he said.

Mishra, however, did not hold out much hope for professional players crying for synthetic courts.

“We do not have any plans to convert the hard courts into synthetic ones right now because our priority in the present budget is the maintenance of the stadium’s hockey field. As for dominance of bureaucrats, there are very few IAS or OAS officers who play here.”