"Not wise for national tennis body to demand exorbitant royalty"

Rupee depreciation makes games costlier for the association who has been asked to pay high royalty to conduct international matches

Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) said it was being penalised by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) as the latter was demanding it to pay high royalty to conduct international matches.

With the rise in costs for conducting matches, mostly due to the higher dollar,  it is not wise for the national body to ask for an “exorbitant” royalty amount, said TNTA.

Speaking to Business Standard, C B N Reddy, honorary secretary, TNTA, said the AITA’s main objective is to promote tennis in India and this can be done by conducting more tournaments. However, AITA doesn’t have to support the events in any way.

TNTA conducts as many as 15 national and international tournaments every year. “AITA collects money from the state associations which are conducting tournaments but it doesn’t penalise those which do not conduct tournaments. This is a very funny situation.  The man who is doing a good job is being penalised and was asked to pay more,” said Reddy.

The issue comes at a time when the state was gearing up to host the 19 th edition of the ATP World Tour tennis event from Dec 30 -Jan 5.

According to him, TNTA has to pay a royalty of Rs 30 lakh. “It is not a small amount. This year, the main problem is the dollar fluctuation as all international tournaments and matches are paid in dollars, said Reddy. During the 2013 Chennai Open, the dollar was at Rs 51-52 and now it is hovering around Rs 63 after touching the Rs 68 mark.

“So, we have to see what are the costs we can cut. Royalty is the one big element which we believe is unreasonable. What we are saying is Rs 30 lakh seems to be a very high fee and you are also trying to penalise an association, which has been doing a very good job,” said Reddy.

“We will not use the waived amount to enrich the members of the association or the officer bearers. However, we are going to use it for the development of our players, like sending them overseas for practice, participation in international tournaments, he said.

PTI reports

The AITA will not waive off the royalty of around $40,000 (which is 10 per cent of the prize money) on the Chennai Open unless TNTA proves it is a loss-making venture. It further made it clear the constitutional provisions are binding on all members.

“Chennai Open is a good tournament. We have to support it and it should be conducted in the best possible manner. We have written to TNTA that if you can prove that you are making losses, we would think of it (for waiving off the royalty),” AITA secretary general Bharat Oza told PTI.