SRAM unveils grand plans

SRAM unveils grand plans
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 21: Squash in the city is looking up. In the little over a year since the new committee of the Squash Racquets Association of Maharashtra (SRAM) under Khalid Ansari has been at the helm of affairs, the sport has shown an upswing.

In Ansari's agenda is taking the sport to the masses by making it truly public. His confidence stemming from the SRAM progress sheet in the past 12 months. Ansari and SRAM secretary Mahendra Agarwal enumerated a list of the work done in the past year.

Besides putting the accounts in order and paying off huge outstandings from previous years, the SRAM has a credit balance today. The state team, under a three-year sponsorship contract with Mid-Day, was sent with a coach to Calcutta to participate in the Inter-State Championship last year and to New Delhi this year.

Mumbai players won four titles in the Nationals at Chennai this year and were awarded Rs 50,000. The SRAM honoured the contributions of National champions like Anil Nayar, Meherwan Daruwalla, AdrianEzra, Mekhala Subedar, CS Pawar, Shyamlal Verma by felicitating them.

The SRAM organised a host of tournaments under its aegis, prominent among them the 26th Motilal Sanghi Inter-Club tournament and the Little Masters tournament. The SRAM organised summer coaching camps at CCI and the Andheri Sports Complex and are working on the project of glass-back public squash courts at the Police Grounds, Worli, Ruparel College, the NSCI, Kalina University Complex, Priyadarshini Park and Alpa Bachat, Pune.

To raise funds for these projects, the SRAM is holding talks with a number of corporate houses and the response is encouraging, said Ansari. The SRAM has also obtained a commitment from Ranjan Sanghi of Sah and Sanghi to put up two courts in the memory of his late brother Krishna Sanghi.

The SRAM has applied for a plot of land in Mumbai to have their own office and squash courts for the general public on pay and play basis. The SRAM is also trying to persuade the government of Maharashtra to recognise squash asan official game.

The SRAM has tied up with Air-India for a three-year junior circuit (under-19, under-17, under-15, under-13 and under-11) tournament for boys and girls. Winners of the first year's circuit have been given free tickets to participate in international tournaments. Said Ansari, ``Set up the courts for us and we'll do the rest. If Pakistan can have world champions who dominated the game for decades and if Malaysia can have a world champion, then why not India.''