Somdev Devvarman all set to head Centre of Excellence at DLTA

A Centre of Excellence, under the guidance of Somdev Devvarman, will soon be established at the DLTA to provide coaching to budding players but the development has cast a doubt over the future of the grassroots level program, which has been running there for four decades.

Scouting has begun for coaches, sports psychologist and physios, who will work in tandem at the upcoming National Academy, which will have involvement of the Sports Ministry.

Under the supervision of India's former number one singles player Somdev, who is also a government observer for the sport, a comprehensive plan has been submitted by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to the Sports Ministry for approval.

It has been learnt that coaching in various age groups has been planned and a foreign coach will also be roped in.

A sports science centre is also being planned at the Academy and qualified physios and sports psychologist will be hired for all round development of the players.

The Academy will accommodate about 300 kids for coaching and at least 100 of them will be able to stay after relocating from their respective states.

The Centre would require an annual budget of at least 20 crore to sustain and the plan is being scrutinised by the Ministry.

"Who can be better than Somdev to plan such a project. He is Commonwealth Games and also Asian Games gold medallist," AITA Secretary General Hironmoy Chatterjee told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)