AITA ACE 2032 Holds All-Women Coaches Course in New Delhi

The All India Tennis Association held an All-Women Coaches Course under its ACE 2032 initiative at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association tennis stadium in New Delhi, and Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Raksha Khadse addressed the participants. She asked for opportunities for women to be widened all the way along the ladder, from playing in a village ground to coaching, high-performance competition and leadership in sport. The course is supported by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Sports Authority of India.

From the grassroots to high performance

The minister said the ambition of becoming a leading sporting nation rests on spotting talent early and then giving girls qualified coaches, usable infrastructure, regular competition and support that does not stop after one season. Talent, she noted, is spread across rural, tribal, semi-urban and urban communities, so widening participation is the way to widen the talent pool. She also argued that the openings for women must run past the playing field into coaching, sports science, administration and event management.

The ASMITA leagues

Discussion turned to the ASMITA women’s leagues run under the Khelo India framework. Launched in 2021, they have reached more than three lakh women and given them organised competition across regions and communities. Participants said grassroots work has to be tied to Khelo India Centres, accredited academies and Centres of Excellence so that a promising athlete has somewhere to climb.

More women in the coaching workforce

The course was built around a shortage: too few qualified women coaches, and too little access to coaching education and certification across the states. More women in coaching, participants said, both encourages girls to take up sport and improves the quality of athlete development. The ACE 2032 initiative is meant to join coach education to talent identification and elite player development, with stress on practical training, mentorship and continuing professional development. A further course was discussed for Bengaluru beginning on 10 December, with 16 players to be selected for the CHP course.

Voices from the states

Rohit Rajpal, President of DLTA, Kawaljeet Singh, Director of Coaching at AITA, Davis Cup coach Ashutosh Singh, AITA Honorary Secretary Sunder Iyer, Treasurer Dinesh Arora and coach Radhika Kanitkar attended. Preeti Srinivasan of Tamil Nadu spoke on focused coaching attention at the grassroots, Marnu Riba of Arunachal Pradesh on holistic development and on players enjoying the game, and Harjot Kaur of Jammu and Kashmir on making Level One fitness programmes fuller for beginners. Sheerika Burman spoke on building high-performance expertise. Safe sporting environments, athlete welfare and professional accountability were called essential, with the initiative tied to India’s sporting goals for 2036 and Viksit Bharat @2047.