TENNIS
Nar Singh, Rohini Lokhande win Dilip Bose lifetime achievement award
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has announced the Dilip Bose award for lifetime achievement to coach Nar Singh. The award along with a cash prize of Rs.50,000 will be presented during the 11th National coaches workshop to be held at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana in Pune on June 7 and 8.
The secretary general of AITA, Anil Dhupar, announced a new lifetime achievement award for women coaches. The first award would be presented to the 69-year-old Rohini Lokhande who was a member of the national team along with Kiran Bedi, Nirupama Mankad, Susan Das and Udaya Kumar, before she took to coaching at a young age.
Rohini was the first woman tennis coach to qualify from the National Institute of Sports. She has trained thousands of players in different age groups and has helped many to qualify as coaches.
The 65-year-old Nar Singh, who has served as a coach and educator for several years, will be the 11th recipient of the Dilip Bose award. His eldest brother Balram Singh was chosen for the award in 2011.
Akhtar Ali, Nandan Bal, CGK Bhupathi, T Chandrasekaran, Enrico Piperno, Tahir Ali, CV Nagaraj, Gajendra Singh, Hemant Bendrey, S Narendra Nath were the other recipients of the award.
The AITA Coaches workshop revived after 2019 will have the theme of Technology and allied services in tennis. The Head of Participation and Education of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Miguel Crespo, will deliver the keynote address.
-Kamesh Srinivasan