By IANS
New Delhi : Grand Slam champion Mahesh Bhupathi Sunday said faulty tennis structure in the country is the reason for the dearth of champion players.
“The system has hardly produced players in the country because of its faulty structure. Moreover, we never had tennis culture, although there is abundance of talent,” Bhupathi said at the end of a two-day selection camp of Apollo Tyres Mission 2018 Tennis Scholarships, a joint venture of the Corporate House and Globosport India Pvt. Ltd.
“Right from my junior days, we had amazingly talented players like Sandeep Kirtane and Prahlad Srinath on the circuit, but they all failed to make their mark at the international level due to the lack of proper system,” he added.
The 33-year-old Bangalorean, who is at the twilight of his career, pointed out that the main reason behind organising this clinic is to dig out talent from the grassroots level who can win a Grand Slam for India by 2018.
“If they are provided with the right inputs and groomed from an early age, then they can win a Grand Slam by the time they are 20.”
Bhupathi, who is also the Globosport managing director, said every year they will conduct these camps at different Indian cities to attract talent from every nook and corner of the country.
“Next year we will have this clinic in four different cities and I hope within a span of three to four years we will be able to cover the entire nation.”
This year 15 youngsters, in the age group of eight to 14, have been selected for the scholarships from a pool of 32 picked from the national level rounds in the four zonal camps held in Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata and finally Delhi.
The choosen 15 will begin their training at the Bhupathi Tennis Village in Bangalore and after two months of rigorous training, they will be send to Le Centre d’Expertise de la Performance in Dijon, France to improve their physical conditioning.