When Aamir honoured his tennis coach

The actor,who was the Bombay Inter-Schools under-14 tennis champion,paid glowing tributes to his coach. “I truly enjoyed training under Sir (Tahir Ali),who did a commendable job with his students. He was wonderful as a tennis coach and was also a good human being,” Aamir Khan told the audience. However,Aamir,who played tennis till the age of 14,rues the fact that he was unfortunate to share a very short stint with Ali. “I was a student of Sir at Bandra Gymkhana,but soon moved to the MSLTA headquarters at Cooperage as head coach. I tried to convince my dad to allow me to continue training with Sir,but he asked to take a break from tennis and concentrate more on my studies,” he mentioned.

The dapper star pointed out that a teacher (coach) contributes the maximum in shaping the career of a student. “The role a teacher plays is the most important and they give so much to society. If the teacher is not good then that could ruin a whole generation,” he emphasised.

“It was a great honour and I am happy to be here today,” Khan added. Also lauding the modest Tahir Ali,were AITA Secretary General,Bharat Oza,MSLTA President,Sharad Kanamwar,former Indian Davis Cup coach and Ali’s elder brother Akhtar Ali,CCI Hon. Treasurer,Premal Udani,CCI Tennis Secretary,Luv Kothari,Nandan Bal,another ex-India coach and host of dignitaries,tennis officials,players (young and old) and their parents.

Oza and Kannamwar praised and thanked the CCI for the initiative taken to recognise and honour the contributions of Coach Ali,who was also instrumental in helping players from Maharashtra win national titles.

Coach Ali began his coaching stint way back in 1974 when he joined the MSLTA Scheme at Bandra Gymkhana and subsequently moved to MSLTA Headquarters at Cooperage as the Chief Coach. During his decade heading up “advanced coaching”,MSLTA was a virtual factory of national champions including Hari Aiyar,Mark Ferriera,Nasreen Shujatalli and Asif Ismail.

Thereafter,he joined CCI in January,1988 and since then has been the source of inspiration for many upcoming players at the club. Even today at the age of 63 years,he enjoys coaching and sharing his vast experience with his young prodigies.