Ministry orders probe in tennis coach panel for 2010 CWG

New Delhi, Sep 21 (UNI) Brushing aside the AITA's claims that small amount of money has come their way to engage some quality coaches, the Sports Ministry has ordered a 'thorough probe' into the selection of tennis coaches for country's preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held here.

Dough MacCurdy of the United States and six Indians - Vishal Uppal (national coach), Arun Kumar, Kawaljit Singh, Nar Singh, Sukhbir Singh and Shalini Thakur - were identified, in consultations with the All India Tennis Association (AITA), for the coaching roles under the 'Preparation of Indian Teams for Commonwealth Games, 2010' scheme.

However, things were brought into the notice of the Ministry that coaches outside the capital were given less importance, while at the same time three of the selected coaches belong to the same family.

Questions have also aroused about Uppal's acceptability as chief coach by senior players like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

''Taking into account all these factors, the Ministry has ordered a thorough probe in the issue,'' a Ministry said.

''The idea behind making public the entire list was to get feedback on the panel and now that we have got it, we are going to ensure that the right persons are selected,'' he asserted.

The AITA has also blamed on lack of money, for which few coaches like Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal and Fed Cup coach Enrico Piperno were not seen in the coach's panel.

Secretary General Anil Khanna has claimed due to lack of money they are not able to engage quality coaches.

But his argument did not find any taker in the Ministry.

''See, money is not going to be an issue. If they get the right person, fund would not be a problem. The Ministry will extend its full support to them to get quality coaches,'' the Ministry official said while setting aside the claims.

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