Lakshya and Amalgam Steel launch programme for girls

Lakshya Sports in collaboration with Amalgam Steel has launched Project Grand Slam to nurture girls in tennis from the grassroots level to Grand Slam stage.

The brainchild of Lakshya’s Vice President, Sunder Iyer, and Sourav Mishra, the Joint Managing Director of Amalgam Steel, the project aims to support the chosen players in every possible way to help them evolve into world class stars.

“Though this program, we want to see at least four to five girls play at all the junior Grand Slams regularly, and start a new chapter for Indian tennis. This will also help the girls make an entry via the junior wild cards into the professional events”, said Sunder Iyer.

“We believe that sports is essential for holistic development, building character and instilling values such as team work, discipline and resilience. We want to have junior Grand Slam champions from India. Our objective is to give selected players essential resources and assistance”, said Vijay Pandey, president of HR at Amalgam Steel.

After rigorous assessment, the project has already chosen players in the 14-15 age group, Maaya Rajeshwaran, Prisha Shinde, Kaashvi Sunil, Aishwarya Jadhav, Rishitha Basireddy, Nainika Reddy, Yashika Shokeen, Sejal Bhutada and Akruti Sonkusare.

These players will be further assessed through a series of ITF junior events in India, before further pruning by April. There will be coaches traveling for these events to support the players and evaluate them. The project will have renowned coach Hemant Bendrey as the guide. Coaches S Narendranath, Shivika Burman and Namita Bal will travel for the tournaments, along with physios and strength conditioning experts.