Chhattisgarh Times
Raipur: Prestigious Gondwana cup, men’s circuit Rs 10 lakh prize money, 2018, All India tennis Tournament Inauguration being held at VIP Club Raipur. Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh inaugurate the tourney and felicitate the Grand Slam winner Rohan Bopanna who visited as a special guest.
Besides Raman Singh also felicitated the bright tennis player of the state Sakshi Mishra and under top-10 ranking player Sidhdharth vishwakarma with cash prize of Rs 60000.
Chhattisgarh State tennis Association has been conducting the event under the aegis of All India tennis Association from December 3-7.
Addressing the event CSTA president Vikram Singh Sisodiya said “Gondwana cup is the biggest event of central India. More than eighty decades old tournament sustaining in Chhattisgarh due to the big support of the Chief Minister. Through his support we have been trying to promote tennis in our state and take players to the next level. It due to our constant effort that we managed to conduct Gondwana Cup Tournament every year”
“In order to harness talent in the state, within couple of years we have invited tennis coaches Akhtar Ali, Jaideep Mukharjee, Nandal Bal, Rohit and Zishaan Ali to train players in the state.57 players from across India has been participating in the sigh in of Gondwana cup tournament. The prize money of this tournament, is Rs. 10 lakhs, which is the highest prize money of a single event in any All India tournament in the country” Sisodiya added.
AITA Supervisor of this tourney is Supreeth kadwigire, Tournament director of the championship is Gurucharan Singh Hora and Co-coordinator is Rupendra Singh chauhan.
It is worth mention that the Gondwana Cup, which started before independence in 1937, was the biggest competition of the Central Provinces which started at the Union Club in Raipur, almost all the big tennis players of the era took part in the competition.
In the competition, in the year 1965, FX Santiago of Raipur has illuminated the name of the district. Presently, Abhijit Tiwari of Chhattisgarh won the competition in 2011, whereas last year in 2017,Siddharth Vishwakarma brighten the name of chhattisgarh by won the championship.
On the inaugural event VIP club Chairman Rakesh Pandey, and other dignitaries from CSTA and corporate were present there.
