NEWS LETTER OF THE INDIAN SQUASH PROFESSIONALS        Issue No.15

WEBSITE: www.ispsquash.com                      E-MAIL : squashindia@hotmail.com 

DIRECTORS: MAHENDRA AGARWAL/ SUBHASH WALI / NARENDRA GOUR (I.R.S.) CHANDRAKANT PAWAR. 
OUR HONORARY MEMBERS: NAVNEET SONI(I.R.S.) / BHARAT BHUSHAN (I.R.S.) / SAIFEE JANI (M.D. JANI SALES LTD.) / RAJESH LIHALA( M.D. SHIVA MARKETING LTD) / RAKESH LAKHANPAL (M.D. S.S.KNITTING IND.) MUKESH BABU(CHAIRMAN, MUKESH BABU SECURITIES LTD) HONOURED PATRONS: VIVEK NAIR (VICE CHAIRMAN & MD THE LEELA) / SAJJAN JINDAL VICE CHAIRMAN & M.D. JINDAL GROUP OF COMPANIES)
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From left, Srikant Ruparel, Gautam Thakkar (President, Bombay Gymkhana), Ranjan Sanghi (Vice-President, SRAM), Bhushan Gagrani (Secretary to CM, Govt. of Maharashtra, Khalid Ansari (President, SRAM), Narendra Gour & Mahendra Agarwal (Directors, ISP) are all smiles at a function to announce the state government recognizing squash.

SQUASH has finally made it was into mainstream of sport in Maharashtra. The State government at last recognized the sport following the joint efforts of the Squash Racquets Association of Maharshtra (SRAM) and the Indian Squash Professionals (ISP). With the recognition of squash in the state players and coaches in Maharshtra will now be eligible for the prestigious Shiv Chhatrapati Award and the Dadojee Konddeo Awards, respectively. They will also benefit by way of getting 10% Govt Quota flats. SRAM will also receive a grant from the state government. Squash red letter day came about following the efforts of SRAM president Khalid A.H. Ansari and honorary secretary Mahendra Agarwal, who also is the director of ISP SRAM and ISP had been approaching the authorities for the past three years and succeeded after meeting various ministers and IAS officers. Apart from coaching camps, clinics and adoption of players under the auspices of the SRAM, ISP has conducted 34 squash tournaments in the city and other parts of the State so far, which has given the sport a major shot in the arm.

In its quest to encourage level, the SRAM held a host of tournaments for juniors, significant among them being the successful Air India tourney. Besides, the SRAM recently orgainsed a fortnight-long tour to Malaysia as part of an exchange programme, where some of Maharashtra top juniors honed their skills in Kuala Lumpur under Malaysian coach K.H.Ong, father of world junior champ On Beng Hee. The recognition of squash inn Maharashtra has also coincided with the State’s rich haul of honours at the National Championship recently. It was a significant year for the state’s rich haul of honors the National  Championship recently. It was significant year of the state and the SRAM where Manish Chotrani won the men’s crown after dethroning Ritwik Bhattacharya of Delhi and Mekhala Subedar bagged the women’s title, Deepali Anvekar the girls under-19 title and Bikram Uberoi the boys under-19 crown. “It has been a long wait for us, but it has been worth it, “said a delighted Khalid Ansari. “It is a small step towards bigger goal, I am sure. With this new found status, we at the SRAM can only hope to grow. As always ,we will strive harder to work for the sport and the players, especially the young ones. “Ansari added: “Now that the (financial) grant will come from the government we at the SRAM can realize most of  our goals which include constructing as many squash courts as possible and organizing coaching schemes. We are very keen to construct public courts so that the squash can be played at the grassroots level. We do not wish it to be an elitist sport. Besides, we have many sponsors and supporters like Messers Ranjan Sanghi, Mahendra Singh, Mr.Gautam Thakkar, Srikant Rurparel and Mahendra Agarwal of ISP.” Narendra Gour, director, ISP said: “The recognition of squash in Maharashtra has been a fitting reward for our labour of love. It was only with the support of so many well wishers of the sport that we have reached this far. Frankly, ISP will not stand to benefit. Rather we only did our bit for the love of squash. Our long journey started in December1996, when the government was not even aware of the sport of squash. In the first correspondence, they had asked the ISP, ‘Which is squash’? Do have any committee in Maharashtra for squash? Who is the President? Mahendra Agarwal added “We were aided by so many people including former director of sports secretary, Suresh Salvi, minister for education, Anil Deshmukh, Ramakrishna More, minister for sport, and Bhushan Gagrani, who is the secretary to the Chief Minister”.

Team MID-DAY, comprising 13 juniors went to this garden city Malaysia to train with K.H.Ong, former international squash player and father of the world junior boys champion Ong Beng Hee. Tunku Imran, Malaysia’s first national squash champion, President Emeritus of the World Squash Federation, took the initiative with Mr. Khalid Ansari President of SRAM.

An exchange programmes between MID-DAY and THE PETRA foundation was worked out. The concept was to take advantage of each other’s strengths. Mumbai has been long regarded as the home of Indian cricket Likewise, the Squash facilities and the development of the game in Malaysia have led it becoming a major force in world squash. They swept all before them in recent Asian at Hong kong. The Malaysian under 15 cricketers visited Mumbai and received coaching at the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy in December 99. The Mid-Day Team, which went to Malaysia in May 2000, were given a healthy mix of a court training, psychology, off court drills and some very high level competition. “The children got to play quite a few tournaments. And is amazing anyone can play on the public courts there, unlike here in Mumbai, where only the elite few get a chance to play, or you have to be member of club. It had all been planned by K.H.Ong, who was like a father, friend and guide to the youngsters. They doted on this warmhearted man, spent hours in his pro shop, discussing their kit requirements and got them for song. The participants are, in fact, talking of next year and the possibility of going to Subang Jaya again.

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