SPORTS

Sport icons cash in on status
M. S. Unnikrishnan

New Delhi, November 16
Once upon a time, sports management was the monopoly of the so-called sports management companies who would often undercut payments to sportsmen to fill their own coffers.

But times have changed, and top sportsmen are now very street smart. Most of them do their own promotion through sports management companies floated by them or their close relatives.

Tennis ace Vijay Amritraj had set the trend in the late seventies when he set up the Britannia-Amritraj Tennis Academy in Madras (now Chennai). Later, cricket stars like Sunil Gavaskar joined the bandwagon. Gavaskar started syndicating his media columns through the Professional Management Group.

Now, top sports stars have gone a step further by floating their own event management companies, which not only manage major sports events, but also the careers of promising sportspersons.

Paes En Sports is one of them. Paes En Sports, a sports management company, was formed by Dr Vece Paes and his star son, Leander Paes, in 1992 "with the aim to organise and manage sports events, to encourage and enhance sports awareness and to manage sportspersons in the fields of tennis, cricket, football, golf, hockey and other games."

Paes En Sports has come a long way since then. The stature it has attained is evident from the fact that the Tata Group has entrusted the job of coordinating the prestigious Futures Event, starting on November 19, to Paes En Sports.

Paes En Sport has been involved with the Sports Client Management of Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, leading junior tennis player Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, Vinod Sewa, Amanjot Singh, Vishal Uppal and the Indian Davis Cup team. It is also a consultant to the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association and does a myriad other jobs, including retail distribution of sports apparel, and providing sports consultancy services to hotels.

Paes En Sports also owns and promotes the ATP Tour Challenger International Tennis events in Calcutta, Lucknow, Jaipur and Chandigarh .It has been doing this since 1999 .It has been promoting the Senior National Tennis Championships in Calcutta since 1998 and the IBP Merchants Cup Tennis Tournament since 2000. It also organises a year-round Peak Performance Fitness Programme for elite sportspersons at the DKS Sports Complex. It has also organised the “Ace Tennis”—a junior tennis development programme for approximately 300 students in Calcutta -since 1992.

The All-India Tennis Association and the Bengal Tennis Association have also entrusted it the job of organising many major events, the East India Tennis Championship, the Planters Pride Junior Age Group Tournament, the Kenilworth Bengal Open State Championship, and the Ffungama Ffort Radisson Winter Carnival, to name a few.

The Bhupathis are not far behind either in the business of sports management. Krishna Bhupathi, father of Mahesh Bhupathi, runs a very popular "Tennis Village" in Bangalore, where coaching is imparted to budding players.

The Krishnans--Ramanathan and Ramesh--have their own tennis academy and consultancy in Chennai. Overall, sportsmen have started taking their future into their own hands instead of entrusting their career management to an outside agency. The money is good and sportspersons can derive the desired mileage if they mange their own affairs themselves. Ask people like Kapil Dev, who has made a name for himself not only as a sports promoter but also as a successful businessman.

R K Khanna Stadium to get a face-lift
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 16
The R K Khanna Stadium will sport a new look once the Indian Tennis Centre (ITC), located at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) facility at Haus Khas, starts functioning. The R K Khanna stadium is the main stadium at the DLTA complex with one synthetic court and one grass court.

This is Delhi's only Davis Cup venue, though Davis Cup matches have often been held at makeshift venues like the National Sports Club of India and the Gymkhana Club courts. The ITC will change the profile of the R K Khanna stadium, which is one of the finest tennis stadiums in the country, with excellent accommodation for players and officials.

With the setting up of the ITC, the facilities at the R K Khanna stadium will be further upgraded to make it comparable to the best in the world. "The R K Khanna stadium complex will be one of its kind in the country", said DLTA president Anil Khanna, who is also the secretary of the All-India Tennis Association.

TN gets a drubbing in Nehru Hockey
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 16
Punjab and Sind Bank toyed with Tamil Nadu XI 4-0 in a Pool A match of the 38th Nehru Hockey Tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here today. The bankers scored two goals in each half to earn full points.

In a Pool B match, Indian Airlines and Railway XI played a 2-2 draw to share the honours.

Punjab and Sind Bank were too good for Tamil Nadu XI's comfort, and the bankers, without wasting any time, opened their account in the fifth minute when forward Sanjiv Kumar shot home a field goal. But the second goal came only in the closing minutes of the first half when Rajinder Singh converted a penalty stroke. Rajwinder Singh converted a penalty corner in the 55th minute to make it 3-0 and rounded off the tally 12 minutes later with a field goal.

In the second match, Indian Airlines forged ahead in the sixth minute when Prabodh Tirkey scored a field goal, with a stunning finish. Airlines held on to the lead till the interval. But four minutes into the second half, Railway XI got the equaliser through Chander Pal, and Iqbal Singh put them in the lead in the 42nd minute. But Bimal Lakra, another junior World Cup star like Prabodh, did not allow the Railwaymen the luxury of enjoying the lead for long, as he pulled back the equaliser in the 48th minute, when he scored off a penalty stroke.

Saturday's fixtures: Rock Rovers (Chandigarh) vs Bengal XI (10 am), IHF Juniors vs Tamilnadu XI (11.30 a m), Indian Airlines vs Bombay XI (1.30 p m), Bharat Petroleum vs Punjab Police (3.15 p m)– Shivaji Stadium.

YMCA basketball

New Delhi, November 16
The fifth New Delhi YMCA Inter-College Basketball Tournament for men and women will be held at the New Delhi YMCA basketball court from December 3 to 7.