AITA wants top players for Nationals
10 Sep 2017 5:19 PM GMT
New Delhi: Desperate to raise the profile of the National Championships, the AITA will recommend the country's top players to compete in the event, but it is highly unlikely they would pay heed to it since the federation is willing to exempt the "established" players.
The AITA issued an advisory on August 31, saying that it is now mandatory for the players to participate in the nationals to not only become eligible for the government grants but also for getting picked in the Indian team, unless exempted by the federation.
The move has come after the Sports Ministry enquired about the nationals from the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and got to know that only the second rung players compete in the annual tournament.
AITA contends that if top players come and play the nationals it will become easier for the federation to get financial assistance from the government for the players.
"The nationals are now mostly played by the country's second rung players. We have to enhance the status of the national championships, so all the players now will be asked to play the nationals. It will then be easy for AITA to push for financial assistance for the national champion," AITA Secretary General Hiornmoy Chatterjee said.
"But it's entirely up to the players. The established players can skip. There will be incentives for the nationals winners like wild cards in the main draw of international events. It's up to them, if they want to avail these incentives," he added.
Unless AITA makes it compulsory, players such as Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rohan Bopanna or Ankita Raina won't come despite the fact that winning the national championship now is lucrative.
The national champion gets Rs 5 lakh from the organisers and Rs 5 lakh as grant from the government. When calculated together, Rs 10 lakh is two times more than what a player gets after winning a USD 50,000 ATP Challenger, where the title winner gets USD 7200 (aprox Rs 4.5 lakh).
The winner of USD 75,000 Challenger gets approx seven lakh and the winner of USD 100,000 Challenger event gets close to 9.21 lakh.
So it's not a bad option devoting a week for nationals for the players, who otherwise struggle for funds. Of course there are no ranking points but this kind of money can sort out travel plans for at least half the season.
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