Vijayawada: The minister for youth services and sports Kollu Ravindra announced two synthetic courts for each district and assured to develop tennis in the state. Talented players would be trained at Zeeshan Ali Tennis Academy through state level selections-cum-tournament, he said. He added that Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) has made an agreement with Gold Slam organisation to conduct 40 tournaments throughout the state.
Minister Ravindra inaugurated the SAAP – Gold Slam tennis state championship at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation stadium tennis complex here on Saturday. He played a game with budding players and encouraged them. The state government is planning to create sports infrastructure at the district stadiums through Public, Private Partnership (PPP), he added. The state government is implementing a new sports policy and is creating an infrastructure at all the assembly constituencies under the Kreeda Vikas Kendras (KVK) scheme, he pointed out.
Minister Ravindra informed that the state government has been setting up 10 academies including four water sports academies in the state. With these academies, best talented sports persons would be spotted and hence give intensive coaching. Regarding, SAAP, Gold Slam tournament about 250 players come from across the state and the championship will be continued till December 25.
SAAP OSD P Rama Krishna, Visakhapatnam DCP Khan, Krishna DSDO B Srinvasa Rao, Gold Slam representative Tirumala Raju and others participated. Later Minister felicitated Tennis coach Sivarama Krishna for giving good coaching and achieving best results in state and national events.
