Dubai tennis coach puts young players on gold trail

DUBAI // Miles away from the glittering opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, an Indian tennis coach is building a dream for his charges of some day winning gold for their nation.

Zeeshan Ali has won medals in the Asian Games and represented India in the Olympics and the Davis Cup. He believes athletes must focus on their sport and ignore distractions such as the concerns about infrastructure, security and sanitation that were thrown up ahead of the Games in New Delhi, which began yesterday.

"The pressure is tremendous," says Mr Ali, 40, who made Dubai his home 14 years ago and set up a tennis academy.

"When you put on the blazer of your country and step onto the court, you are not playing for yourself but for a billion-odd people who are following what you are doing."

Adarsh Ramesh, 14, admits it is one of his "biggest dreams" to play for his country and become a future star of a sport just added to the Commonwealth Games roster this year.

"Playing gives me a rush," says Ramesh, who studies in Grade 10 at Dubai's Indian High School.

"I'm too young to be concerned with what's happening in the Commonwealth Games. I just want to be a great player and work with Mr Ali to reach No 1."

His coach, who was saddened by the controversy in New Delhi, had his playing career cut short due to a back injury and accepted an invitation from the ruling Al Maktoum family to promote tennis in Dubai. He served as the UAE's Davis Cup coach three years ago.

Mr Ali plans to take a group of six promising Dubai-based teenagers hailing from India, Pakistan and Russia to play International Tennis Federation tournaments overseas. Describing them as extremely talented, he says he wants players under his tutelage to look at the wider horizon. "I want them competing against kids in the rest of the world and see what it's like to compete outside," he says.

Indians who have blazed this trail include Leander Paes, who earned a bronze medal in singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and has won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles. Compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi is one of eight men to complete a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles.

While players including Sania Mirza, the highest-ranked Indian woman in history, have gained athletic glory, such has not been the case with the Games in New Delhi, which have come under fire over safety and housing. Mr Ali believes there would have been no mishandling of the event if those directly involved in sport had been permitted more involvement in India.

"You must have sports people hand-in-hand running the show, making sure money spent on building and maintaining stadiums is money well spent," he says.

That idea is gaining traction in India, where the middle-distance runner and Olympian Ashwini Nachappa has founded the Clean Sports Movement to lobby for the inclusion of athletes in mainstream sporting bodies. "Why should politicians head sporting organisations? That's why we are in this mess," she says.

"The entire nation hangs its head in shame over the Commonwealth Games. But athletes must prepare for the Games, give it their best shot."

Those sentiments about giving their all are echoed on Dubai's tennis courts, where 13-year-old Sandip Roy, a Grade 8 student in Dubai College, volleys with Mr Ali. While Sandip hopes for the best from the athletic spectacle in New Delhi, his sights are set on improving his own prospects.

"Sometimes I pretend and dream of winning gold for India," Sandip says. "Tennis is like an obsession for me. I've read what's happening with the Commonwealth Games, but I'd rather focus on my game and get better."

rtalwar@thenational.ae