Satellites entry a must

In another major decision, the AITA made it compulsory for all players, whose rankings is more than 400, to participate in all the ITF Circuit tournaments slated to be held next year. The decision will come into effect from January 1999 and only players who participate in all the tournaments will be considered for selection in nationalteams. The rule excludes Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

The AITA has formed special committees for the certification of coaches and their training and certification of officials. Dhupar will head the certifying of officials committee. It was also decided to make it compulsory for every unit to organise one domestic circuit tournament of Rs 50,000 to Rs 4.5 lakh prize money every year.

On asked about the national grasscourt tournament, Dhupar said Calcutta will host the National grasscourt for the next five years.

AITA is the only national federation in the country which gives money to its units. The AITA will distribute Rs 1.40 crore to its affiliated units, of which Rs 1.5 lakh will be given to each association for coaching, he added. He said the AITA will give five centres — Jaideep Mukherjea (Calcutta), Krishnan Tennis Centre (Chennai), CGK Bhupathi Academy (Bangalore), Balram Singh (Delhi), and Gaurav Natekar (Mumbai) — Rs 5 lakh each to train the selected boys andgirls.

He said the AITA has decided to scrap the Under-18 event because the Association wants the juniors to play in the circuit and earn more points.