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Coimbatore 360
An unsung tennis hero
June 21, 2016
Tennis is a much loved and sought after sport today. Many clubs and training centres are busy coaching and training youngsters who take up the sport.
Over hundred years ago the Sulur House family patronised the sport and did so much to promote the game in the city. Slowly the game started becoming part of sporting events.
The sport owes a lot to Noor Mohammad, who gave his life to bring the game to this level in Coimbatore. Beginning his career as a ball boy in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Noor learnt the techniques of the game by observing players.
Very soon he started competing with the very same players for whom he was just a ‘ball boy’.
His talent took him to various parts of the undivided India and finally he settled in Coimbatore in the 1950s.
Supported by Rama Ranganathan of Perks and by the DPF family, he started coaching youngsters at the Cosmopolitan Club.
Noor, accompanied by this two pet dogs, would arrive at the club at 5.45 a.m. everyday to coach the youngsters. The evening session would begin at 3.45 p.m.
A number of industrialists, including M.A.M. Ramaswamy of the Chettinad Groups, R. Shantharam of Lakshmi Clothing Company patronised Noor, who also had interests in horse racing.
His students recall the commitment he had in the sport and in training them to be excellent tennis players. For them he is an unsung hero of the sport.
