Hyderabad: Iftekhar Shareef, Chairman and Managing Director IGS Group of Companies that has operations in India and the United States on Saturday lauded the efforts of Hyderabad-based Academia Sports Village (ASV) for their wonderful promotion of tennis and football by providing platforms to budding players to grow in their respective careers. He hoped that some products from ASV camps would strike it rich internationally and win laurels for the country with their exploits.
He was speaking at the fifth-anniversary celebrations of ASV at their courts in Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club (HPRC) here on Saturday. Trainees of the three-day tennis camp, which was also held to coincide with the Dussehra festival, and their coaches were present on the occasion.
Philanthropist and former Director of Shantha Biotech, Khalil Ahmed, said that the arrival of ASV marked a tremendous boost to the two disciplines as they were organizing training camps and clinics with a foreign flavor. It was thanks to the initiatives undertaken by ASV promoters that budding Indian talent was able to learn the nuances and advanced playing skills besides getting a feel of peer competition abroad, he said.
Talking about their future plans, CEO of Academia Sports Village, Mohammad Shamsuddin, stated that this year sports had taken a major beating because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced them to reschedule their annual calendar. Although, the Dussehra camp is normally held for around 100 players, this time around they had to restrict the participation because of Covid Protocol. He said they will conduct a tennis and football camp each in which eminent coaches from Europe would come to Hyderabad and mentor youngsters.
Academia Sports Village later felicitated Iftekhar Shareef and Khalil Ahmed for their contributions to their respective fields.
Reaz Ahmed, Secretary (Admin) HPRC, and veteran journalist Mr. M A Majid were also present on the occasion
