“Let’s play Tennis for fun and fitness and energize the community and youth” is the theme of the first ever Tennis tournament jointly conducted by Telugu Association of North Texas (TANTEX), a non-profit, non-religious organization established in 1986 to preserve, promote and perpetuate the cultural heritage of Telugu speaking people of North Texas and India Association of North Texas (IANT), a non-profit, non-political, non-sectarian organization established in 1962 with the primary purpose to serve the cultural and educational needs of the North Texas Indian community. The objective of this historic tournament is to enhance fitness and sportsmanship not only of the Telugu community but also of other organizations of Indian origin under the umbrella of IANT. The day long tournament was held at the LB Houston Tennis Center located in Dallas, TX as a part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations of TANTEX scheduled for July 8th and 9th at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Dallas TX.

There has been an overwhelming response from the participating Indian community. Twenty Six Singles and fourteen Doubles teams from the Dallas-Fort Worth area participated in this tournament. Over 100 members including the participating players gathered at the Tennis center early Saturday morning after enjoying the traditional Indian breakfast for the kick-off ceremony. Mr. Krishna Korada, Chair, Youth & Sports committee, TANTEX extended a warm welcome to the enthusiastic crowd and outlined the daylong program details and objectives of the Youth & Sports Committee. Mr. Mahesh Adibhatla, member of the Sports Committee went over the rules of the game and explained the process of pairing the teams.

Mr. NMS Reddy, President, TANTEX reiterated the organization’s commitment to involve the community and reaching out to the diverse needs of the members and quoted “sports is certainly proving to be a great platform”. Dr. Sridhar Reddy Korsapati, President-Elect, IANT invited the members of the Indian community to take active part in sports and politics, the two areas where the Indian community is lagging behind compared to other ethnic communities in the United States while making a reference to the upcoming local elections in the area. Mr. Balki Chamkura, Joint Secretary of IANT said that “winning or losing is not important and requested the players to maintain good sportsmanship”. Ms. Geeta Dammanna, President-Elect, TANTEX flagged off the tournament by serving the first tennis ball to the opposing court and formally opening the tournament.

Twenty Six singles and fourteen doubles teams participated in the tournament. Overall the matches were conducted extremely well with professionally supervised referees, line judges and court coordinators. There were numerous moments of intense competition and visible emotions from the players as well as their supporting cheerleaders on the stands.

After an intense series of 9-game pro-set knock-out type matches, Mr. Sasidhar Urimindi and Mr. Gokul Nune, both volunteers of “Spoorthi”, the youth wing of TANTEX, competed in the finals. Mr. Urimindi is the declared winner and Mr. Nune clinched the second place. Doubles teams lead by Mr. Madhu Mallu/Mr.Kishore Kasak and Mr.Lakshmikanth Chinnasamy /Mr. Alex Raja competed in the finals. Mr. Madhu Mallu and Mr.Kishore Kasak are the declared winners and Mr. Lakshmikanth Chinnasamy and Mr.Alex Raja clinched second place.

Mr. Korada congratulated all the participants and reminded everyone to stay tuned for variety of similar sporting events throughout the year. Dr. Manohar Vajja of Natyom, Dr. Korsapati, Mr. Chamkura, Mr. NMS Reddy, Mr. Udhay B. Pentakota and Dr. Narasimha Reddy Urimindi, Joint Secretary of TANTEX, presented the trophies to the team finalists in both the Singles and Doubles category. The participating teams congratulated the organizers and expressed their appreciation and thanked everyone for the opportunity. Mr. Mahesh Adibhatla thanked the players, referees, line judges and volunteers for their countless hours of valuable time and contribution to the success of the event. Mr. Adibhatla conveyed words of appreciation to the event sponsors Dr. Manohar Vajja of Natyom, Rice & Roll, Dr. William Abramovits, M.D, of Dermatology, Mr. Subbu Damireddy for his excellent photography, Saregama Indian Café for providing breakfast and the media partners; FunAsia, TV9, Eknazar and finally to the staff and management of LB Houston Tennis Center for providing the facilities.