By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Oct 18:
Air Force Lawn Tennis Championship 2022-23 under the aegis of the Air Force Sports Control Board (AFSCB) was inaugurated by Air Marshal Vibhas Pande, Air Office Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command, Vayusena Nagar, Nagpur in Maharashtra on Monday.
The event which will be on till Saturday, October 22, has been hosted by Group Captain Dharamveer Yadav, Commanding Officer of Head Quarters Maintenance Command (Unit), under the aegis of Air Force Sports Control Band (AFSCB), New Delhi with the active support from the air warriors of HQ Maintenance Command.
Twenty eight players from the seven Commands of the Indian Air Force will contest both in team and individual championship during the course of the Championship. They include the players from the Western Air Command, New Delhi, Eastern Air Command, Shillong (Meghalaya), Central Air Command, Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Southern Air Command, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), South Western Air Command, Gandhinagar, (Gujarat) and Maintenance Command, Nagpur.
The winners of the Championship will get an opportunity to represent the Indian Air Force at the inter Services Championship to be held subsequently and the winners thereafter will represent at the national level.
All the promising players across Indian Air Force shall be participating to showcase their talents. The IAF has always stressed on physical fitness through various organised games and sports for the air warriors. To select potential players from the grassroots and to nurture their talents and to promote Lawn Tennis amongst the air warriors across all the IAF establishments is the aim of the championship.
Air Vice Marshal M V Rama Rao Senior Air and Administrative Officer said that the primary aim of the Championship is to promote Lawn Tennis as a popular sport amongst the air warriors since it is aesthetically pleasing sport to maintain health, fitness, strength and agility. It also has social and psychological benefits and can played with friends and family as a social activity. Besides inculcating competitive spirit and sportsmanship, the Championship aims to select potential Lawn Tennis players from grassroots for the Air Force Team which would take part in the Inter Services Championship and also at the national level subsequently, he added.
The organizers of Air Force Sports Control Board are expecting very competitive matches from talented and experienced campaigners from each of the seven Commands of the Indian Air Force.
The prize distribution and closing ceremony of the Championship will be held in the presence of many senior officers from the Indian Air Force on Saturday.