The All Assam Tennis Association (AATA) was formed in the year 1957 at Dibrugarh with eminent educationist Hiranya Kumar Bhuyan, who was the Vice Chancellor of Guwahati University as PRESIDENT and Justice Parbati Kumar Goswami,Honourable Judge of Supreme Court of India, as Hony. General Secretary. Eminent personalities of Assam H.N.Agarwalla, C.K. Sarmah, Ajit Kr Sarmah, Ranjit Chaliha ,B.C.Bora , Capt Robin Bordoloi , Subhash Ch. Das (IAS) graced the offices of the PRESIDENT & GENERAL SECRETARY of the All Assam Tennis Association at various times. Currently Sri RaktimSaikiaand Sri Ankush Dutta is looking after the various activities of the Association as PRESIDENT & SECRETARY.
After inception of the Association at Dibrugath the office of the association was maintained at Dibrugarh Club and subsequently it was housed at the Nurul Amin Tennis Centre at Nehru Stadium, Guwahati. This facility at Nehru Stadium was the brainchild of R.G.Baruah, P.K. Goswami and a few eminent tennis playing personalities to promote and facilitate tennis activities among the Junior players.
Prior to the hosting of the National Games in 2007 the tennis courts at Nurul Amin Tennis Centre were acquired by the Government of Assam to construct an indoor stadium and basketball court for the upcoming National Games.
On 10/06/1999 a plot of land measuring 5(Five) Bighas was allotted to the All Assam Tennis Association by the Government of Asaam to create an international standard tennis playing facility and to host the Tennis event of the 2007 National Games, which was being hosted by the Government of Assam. On 04/07/2003 an additional plot of 3 (Three) bighas was added to the existing plot of 5 (Five) bighas by the Government of Assam.
The Association initiated the construction work of the facility with earth filling,compaction,levelling, building of boundary wall of the allotted area. Subsequently the tennis courts along with the administrative building along with players changing rooms, toilet blocks,gallery along with 6(Six) synthetic courts were made ready and the 2007National Games was hosted by the association in its newly created facility at Chachal. Another court was later added to the existing 6(six) courts and floodlights were installed in 6 (six) courts to facilitate playing at night.
This tennis playing facility of the association which also hosts the office of the ALL ASSAM TENNIS ASSOCIATION (AATA) has more than 350 players in different age groups starting from 6 years to 18 years, who are undergoing regular coaching in the said facility. A few senior recreational players also play in the evening time.
The association employs 6 (six) qualified coaches, who are supervised by a head coach provided by Alexander Waske Tennis University,Frankfurt, Germany. The association also employs a qualified physical trainer to help the coaches in making the players match ready. To help maintain the operations as well as the coaching programme in a smooth manner, the association also employs an administrator and 4(Four) support staff, who reside in the premises of the Association at Chachal.
This center is one of three centers that the international tennis academy is managing in India and this facility is one of its kind in North East India. This center haste credit of producing national top ranked players in both boys and girl’s category and also facilitated a number of young players in enrolling as tennis players in different universities of the USA. Currently a few players are ranked in the top of the table of the country in their respective age groups.
After the successful hosting of the 2007 National Games, the association has had the honour to host a significant number of National and International tournaments. The tennis center at Chachal helped the state to host the SAF Games and later KHELO INDIA YOUTH GAMES, both of which were hosted by the Government of Assam. In addition to the above PETROLEUM SPORTS PROMOTION BOARD tennis meet was hosted twice in the last few years and all prominent top ranked players of India have participated in these events. They have also appreciated the tennis playing facilities provided by the association.
The All Assam Tennis Association has a calendar of National and international events and has been doing so year after year since 2007. A list of the tournaments held regularly at the Chachal facility of the association is as under:
- INTERNATIONAL TENNIS FEDERATION(ITF) MASTERS– 1 tournament
- INTERNATIONAL TENNIS FEDERATION (ITF) JUNIORS – 1 tournament
- ASIAN JUNIORS – 1 tournament
- AITA SUPER SERIES – 4 tournament
- AITA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES – 4 tournament
In addition to the above tournaments AATA regularly holds advance coaching camps for talented players from all over the state, coaches’ workshops for the local coaches and officiating courses.
All Assam Tennis Association has so far invested a sum of around Rs 5.00 Crores over the years in creating this international standard tennis playing facility.