Senior bureaucrat Praveen Mahajan has became the first woman President of the All India Tennis Association, replacing veteran administrator Anil Khanna who was forced to quit by the Sports Ministry. The AITA appointed Mahajan, a former IRS officer, after its Executive Committee unanimously chose her for the post until the election is conducted.

• Mahajan was the first woman chief of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the apex policy-making body for indirect taxes, and is now posted in Jodhpur as administrative member of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
• The Ministry had asked Khanna to quit, arguing that his election as President in 2012 was against the Sports Code that bars officials from re-election after serving two consecutive terms of four years. A cooling off period of four years is required before being eligible for the post again.
• Apart from Mahajan, only two other Vice Presidents, including Chintan Parikh (from Gujarat) and Aneil Mahajan (from Madhya Pradesh), were eligible for the post of President as per the age and tenure conditions of the Sports Code.

AITA

• The All India Tennis Association (AITA) governing body of tennis in India. It was established in 1920 and affiliated by International Tennis Federation and Asian Tennis Federation.
• The AITA organisation has its headquarters in Delhi.
• All India Tennis Association operates all of the Indian national representative tennis sides, including the India Davis Cup team, the India Fed Cup team and youth sides as well.
• AITA is also responsible for organising and hosting tennis tournaments within India and scheduling the home international fixtures.