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SPORTS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
20 minutes per set. Thus was formed the unofficial and unrecog-
nised National Tennikoit Federation of India.
The three states continued to dominate the game and with the
financial support from an Andhra Pradesh businessman, Mr. T.
Ramamurthy, organised the National championships for men and
women. The game soon spread to other states and gained in popu-
larity especially in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala and Bihar.
The untiring, unstinted and dedicated efforts of the group paid
dividends in 1980 when the Union Government recognised the game
and the national federation. Mr. Ramamurthy was officially elected
to the office .of Secretary-General of the government-recognised
National Federation. He continued for a second term, before paving
the way for Mr. B.S. Nagaraja of Karnataka, who has also returned
to office for a second term.
The Union Government also provided a one-time grant of Rs.
20,000 in 1980 to the National Federation to conduct the National
Championships for men and women and soon the federation also in-
troduced the National Championships for junior boys and girls in the
age group of 14 to 18 years. The grant was gradually increased to
Rs. 75,000 by 1988 and at the behest of the Union Government, the
federation also introduced the sub-junior Nationals for boys and
girls below 14 years of age in 1985. The government made it
mandatory for the federation to introduce the sub-junior event that
year if it wanted to draw the grant. Though the federation received
Rs. 50,000 during 1991-92, the government has stopped the grants
to non-Olympic games following India’s continued poor showing
and especially after the debacle at Barcelona.
The federation has since grown in strength and now conducts
annual events under the following categories: Team championships
for men and women on the Davis Cup pattern, i.e., two singles, one
doubles and two reverse singles matches - unlike in tennis, in ten-
nikoit team championships, the reverse singles matches are
dropped if a team takes a winning 3-0 lead by winning the two
singles and doubles matches; senior National Championships for
men and women, junior National Championships for boys and girls
and the Sub-junior National Championships for boys and girls.
Sadguru of Andhra Pradesh and Parameshwari of Tamil Nadu
have respectively won the national titles for men and women for a
record eight times. In 1993, Karnataka’s 17-year-old, Anitha Ch-
ennaveer dethroned Parameshwari from the top spot by claiming
the senior women’s title. Anitha is also the Junior National Cham-
pion. Andhra Pradesh has dominated the team championship for
men by continuously retaining the title in the 18 meets held so far.
Among women, the team championship has been rotationally
shared by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Karnataka,
however, holds sway in the junior and sub-junior categories, both
boys and girls. Some of the other players of repute include Shyam
Sundar, Ananthasayanam, Choundamma and J.N. Pradeep.
The game of tennikoit is played with rings with a diameter of 16
cms and thickness of 3 cm on a court measuring 40 feet by 18 feet
with a net at the centre with a height of six feet one inch at the poles
and six feet at the centre. To make the game fast and interesting,
the duration of a 21-point set has been reduced to 15 minutes and
the 13-point rally to break a tie has been replaced by sudden death.
A winner is decided on a best-of-three set basis.
TENNIS
Perhaps had its parent root in Egypt or Per-
sia around 500 B.C. It is also believed that the
game could owe its origins to a game of hand-
ball that was played in ancient Greece.
Around the 11th or 12th century, the French
devised a game called 'jeu de paume' or the
game of the palm.
In 1873, Major Walter Clopton of England introduced a version
closely resembling the modern sport. He patented the equipment
and rules for playing the game on grass in 1874. Major Walter
Wingfield introduced his guests to a game called 'Sphairistike' in
1873. Prior to this Major Harry Gem of England and his Spanish
friend J,B. Perera pioneered a similar type of game. The game soon
replaced croquet as the most popular outdoor sport in England. The
All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in 1877 sponsored the
first major tournament for men at its headquarters in Wimbledon.
The women's event was included in 1884.
By the turn of the 19th century the game spread to Canada,
South Africa, America, France-, Germany, Belgium and Australia.
The game was included in the 1896 Olympics and continued till
1924. It was reinstated in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and has been
a part of the Asiad calendar since 1958.
American player Dwight Davis donated the Davis Cup to be
awarded annually to the country that wins the world's men's cham-
pionship which originated in 1900. Today tennis has become a
highly professional and commercial sport with a number of profes-
sional circuits-French Open, Wimbledon, American Open and the
Australian Open being the plum Grand Slam events.
Generally considered as an elite sport, tennis in India is mostly
confined to clubs in metropolitan and urban centres. India has
produced a few players of top calibre, who have done the country
proud, especially in the Davis Cup competition.
The first Indian to figure in the Wimbledon was Sardar Nihal
Singh, who lost to Wilson Fax in the first round in 1908. Ghaus
Mohammad was the first Indian to reach the quarter finals of a
Wimbledon. In 1939, he lost to R.L. Riggs in the last eight.
Ramanathan Krishnan twice reached the semi-finals in 1960 and
1961
and lost to Neale Fraser and Rod Laver respectively. The
other Indians to reach the quaterfinal stage in the Wimbledon are
Vijay Amrithraj (1973 and 1981) and Ramesh Krishnan (1986).
Vijay and Anand Amrithraj reached the semi-finals of the doubles
competition in 1976. In 1954, Ramanathan Krishnan won the Junior
Wimbledon title. And 25 years later his son, Ramesh, emulated the
feat. In 1990, Leandar Paes also won the Junior Wimbledon crown.
While Ramesh has also won the Junior French Open in 1979,
Leander Paes has won the Junior Australian Open and the Junior US
Open titles in 1990 and 1991 respectively.
While Vijay Amrithraj played in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when
tennis was reinstated, Ramesh and Leander narrowly missed the
doubles bronze in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
India also reached the final of the Davis Cup competition thrice
but without any success. In 1961 the Indian team of Ramanathan
Krishnan, Jaideep Mukherjea and Premjit Lai lost 1-4 to Australia
in the Davis Cup final. In 1974, the Indian team comprising Vijay,
Anand, Sashi Menon and Jasjit Singh forteited the final to South
Africa. Again in 1987 the Indian squad lost out 1-4 to Sweden in the
final. The Indians made their debut in Davis competition in 192*1