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The Delhi Gymkhana Club is one of the oldest Clubs in India. It moved to its present location on the 3rd July, 1913. It was then called the "Imperial Delhi Gymkhana Club" and Mr. Spencer Harcourt Butler was its first President. When India gained Independence in 1947, the word "Imperial" was dropped and it was simply known as "Delhi Gymkhana Club". Sir Usha Nath was the first Indian President of the Club. The Club so far has had 47 Presidents. The present President is Lt Gen M R Kochhar,PVSM,AVSM(Retd) The club is located in the heart of Lutyen's New Delhi occupying 27.3 acres of prime land as per site plan made on the drawing board by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens as part of his grand design for Imperial Celebrations. Lutyens Delhi - the eighth in line - was built in an area littered with stones, tombs, domes, ruined walls and gardens of former Capitals - the historic cross roads and battle grounds of India.
| The club is primarily a sporting club and has the distinction of having 26 grass courts and 7 clay courts with two of them flood lit. The grass courts have been in existence since 1940. The club has an active tennis membership of over 200 and also runs an active training academy for juniors. Despite increasing preference for synthetic courts, the Club maintains its grass courts and can boast of the largest number of grass courts in the country. They compare well with the best any where. The Club has the proud privilege of holding several National & International championships including the Grand Prix Tennis Tournament and Davis Cup matches. Some of the top Tennis and Squash Players have played here. |  |
The clay courts are the main stay during the rainy season when grass courts are closed. They perfectly align in the North-South axis and are surrounded by thick bushy trees so that the screens are not visible. The lush plants surrounding these courts are interspersed with perinnial flowering bushes which lend a pleasant colour. An interesting feature of the club is its location in the middle of an elite residential area. As a result, the Club has tennis almost through out the day. The busy professionals like to play early in the morning combined with breakfast in the club, followed by their house wives later in the morning. The afternoons are full with club members who have a little more leisure and school children. The Club also has 3 squash courts, a covered swimming pool with solar heating facilities, functional through out the year, a dining hall with two bars, a restaurant and a library probably larger than any other club in India with approximately thirty one thousand books with reading rooms for adults and children and about 40 transit cottages for its members who come and stay here from all over the world and has nearly 12000 members of which 5000 are active members.
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