By IANS
New Delhi : In an attempt to win more medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in the city, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) will submit a roadmap to the sports ministry next week for assistance from the government.
"We have prepared a roadmap to win more medals in the Commonwealth Games. We are looking at a financial assistance to the tune of Rs.150-200 million for the development programme every year and we will submit the report to the sports ministry next week," Ranbir Chauhan told IANS Thursday.
The AITA has formed a development advisory committee under the chairmanship of former Davis Cup captain Jaidip Mukerjea and other former players like Akhtar Ali, S.P. Mishra, Nandan Bal and Enrico Piperno. The committee has made a comprehensive plan to ensure that the success of the 2006 Asian Games is repeated at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
India stood first in the tennis event in the Asian Games last year with the duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi retaining doubles gold medal. Paes then teamed up with Sania Mirza to win the mixed doubles gold as well. Sania also won the silver in the women's singles. In the women's team event, the Indian pair of Sania and Shikha Uberoi had to settle for the silver medal.
"The development plan includes a lot of team like adoption of players, training programmes, exposure trips, organising Challenger Tournaments and also to have foreign coach and physiotherapists," said Chauhan.