Foundation stone laid for Tennis stadium

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) Preprations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games gained momentum today with the laying of the foundation stone of the R K Khanna stadium, venue for the tennis events, at an impressive ceremony here.

Talking to mediapersons after the ceremony, Mr Anil Khanna, secretary of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) said, ''The Organising Committee for Commonwealth Games 2010 has acknowledged our sincere efforts and the proposed model of the R K Khanna complex has been appreciated by them.'' The ceremony was performed by the AITA secretary who was accompanied by first national champion Sumant Mishra and current champion Ashutosh Singh and host of other ranking players Vishal Uppal, Ashutosh Singh, Shivang Mishra, Parul Goswami, Ankita Bhambri, Sanaa Bhambri and Vishika Chhetri.

According to the new model for the complex, the stadium will have a centre court, a number one court and six match courts.

It will also have 15 practice courts.

Mr Khanna said the estimated expenditure for the renovation is 30 crore which the government has already approved.

In January 2006, R K Khanna stadium was selected as the venue for the Commonwealth Games 2010. The stadium will hold all the tennis matches for the Commonwealth Games which India is scheduled to host.

He said,''The stadium will meet the international standards in every possible way and will have the best of facilities.'' Although the construction work has already begun but he said, ''the stadium will undergo a full-fledged construction work in February 2008 and the stadium will be ready by December 2009.'' The stadium is scheduled to host a number of tennis tournaments this year but Mr Khanna said the renovation work will not hamper the schedule of tournaments.

The architectural work has been taken up by Gaurav Lakhanpal who has prepared the model for the DLTA complex.

The proposed complex will use energy saving construction materials like thermal insulation, solar panels, rain water harvesting, lighting and equipment.

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