Ludhiana, March 10, 2006
Ramesh Sharma
NRI, Harvinder Singh Saren, 65, reator from Edminton,
Canada has already spent Rs 3 crore on Lawn Tennis
Academy, which he says will need another Rs 3 crores
for completion. He is building a world-class tennis
academy in his native village, Jassowal Kular, in
Punjab’s Doaba region.
Sadhna Goyal, a tennis coach from Uttar Pradesh.said,“I
came here for 10 days, but agreed to continue because
of the tremendous talent I discovered in the children,
something which you will not find in cities. They
complete all their assignments. Actually, I love hard
work and while coaching in the cities I have found
children tire in just half-an -hour of training. Here
children practice as long as you want them to, which
I like very much. I enjoy coaching these children.
He has about 100 children from various parts of Punjab
training at the academy, who are also provided free
lodging and food. Each trainee, says Saren, costs
him Rs 70000 per year. For preparing the world class
courts, necessary infrastructure and material has
been imported from the United States at a cost of
200,000 dollars.
Ajay Vyas, chief coach said, “If more NRIs come
forward to provide suitable infrastructure for village
children to play lawn tennis, hockey or football,
in the next few years India will shine at international
level in sports. It’s a late start for these
children but I am confident that very soon these children
will be stars in the State.”
Saren has also provided a computer laboratory in
the village school, but has also developed a football
ground here. He is now planning to open a centre for
players, where they will be provided boarding and
lodging to ensure professional training. He wants
to provide residential quarters for the coaches too.
Saren has turned down government support of any
kind in upgrading the academy. Saren has asked the
government to instead upgrade the road which connects
his village to Mullanpur. Director Sports Pargat Singh
came to this small village to inspect the tennis academy.
The Director Sports said that the government wants
to check the facilities offered at the Jassowal Kular
Academy, so that they can issue government grants
to develop it further.
