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All India Tennis Association
All India Tennis Association, formerly known as All India Lawn Tennis Association is responsible for arranging tennis matches and tournaments in India. AITA is headquartered at Delhi`s R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex. It arranged the first Asian International Championship in Kolkata in 1949.

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All India Tennis Association, Indian TennisThe All India Tennis Association (AITA) is the supreme authority of lawn tennis in India and all the states and district associations are affiliated to it. The AITA organizes various tennis tournaments at different levels like district, state or national, with the help of its member associations. The main objective behind organizing these tournaments is to bring up new talents in tennis in India and also to provide the players with a competitive feel.

The AITA is also in charge of selecting the Indian National team for participating in various International tennis tournaments like the Davis Cup. It takes notice of good performances of the players in the Indian Tennis tournaments, while selecting the national team. Praveen Mahajan is the president of All India Tennis Association.

History of All India Tennis Association
It was the organisation that governs all kinds of Tennis related activities in India. The AILTA became the apex or the controlling body in India. In the early 1980s, the name of the association changed to All India Tennis Association. From the beginning of the 1990s, tennis in India started getting a new look. The Association founded a full-fledged modern National Stadium at Delhi with a seating capacity of 5000 spectators in 1996.

The first President of the AILTA was a British member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) named Mr. Samuel Perry O`Donnell. The first AGM of the AILTA also took the decision to hold the annual "All India National Championships" at Allahabad. It was decided to participate in the internationally acclaimed Davis Cup competition. The AITA organised the Inter Provincial Tournament for the first time in 1922 and this yearly competition had been a regular feature till the eve of World War II in 1939.

It implemented its decision and organised one tournament on the Grass court, termed as National Championships of India and the other one was named the All India Hard Court Championships. The AITA allowed the foreign players to play in the National Championships, as well. The first ever Grass Court National Championship was organised at Kolkata`s South Club, popular as `the cradle of the game in the country` in 1946.

Headquarters of All India Tennis Association
The AITA administration has its headquarters in Delhi`s R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex. The organisation was running from temporary places like Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai</b> till 1996.

Format of tournaments of All India Tennis Association
AITA conducts the following types of tournaments:

Talent Series
Championship Series
Super Series
National Series
Two Nationals - Hard Court and Clay

Activities of All India Tennis Association
Apart from organizing various national level tournaments, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) also got the recognition of organizing the first ever Asian International Championship in Kolkata in the year 1949-1950. Though the AITA organised a few Grand Prix tournaments during the 1970s, none of the tournaments could meet with much success as the prize money was too little due to lack of funds. The decade of 1990s was quite a fruitful decade for the AITA, as it became successful to improve its financial position significantly during this decade.

With the help of stronger financial condition, the AITA constructed a full-fledged modern National Stadium at Delhi in 1996. The stadium has a huge seating capacity of 5000 spectators. Though the headquarters of the AITA were being roaming from the cities like Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai for several years, in the initial period, it was finally shifted to its permanent location at the R. K. Khanna Tennis Stadium in 1996. Honorary president of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and Padma Bhushan awardee Raj Kumar Khanna died recently after a brief illness.


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