30 years ago Naveen Mahajan, a tall lanky hockey player from Jalandhar had never thought that he would first become IAS and then would also become champion in tennis that too nine times in a row.
Sports is as natural as administration to IAS Naveen Mahajan, who has brought laurels for Rajasthan many a times at national tennis tourneys for civil servants.
Naveen Mahajan's agility and speed has little impact of age and at 52 he still has the ability to turn the table on opponents. That is what has happened at the Chief Secretary Challengers Cup 2023-24 where he teamed up with IAS Sharad Mehra and the with IAS Ravi Jain to score a 2-0 victory over College Education team.
Clean sweep for the team IAS
The team IAS led by Naveen Mahajan had a clean sweep winning both the games in the final match. While the duo of Naveen Mahajan and Sharad Mehra defeated the doubles team of Arun Choudhary and Jaikishan Tripathy by 9-5. Later Mahajan combined with Ravi Jain to win the battle easily by 9-2 making a clean sweep and clinching the title.
Sports still gives same kick to Naveen Mahajan
Mahajan finds hardly any difference when he used to play hockey for his college team and now playing tennis for IAS team. Sports make a person competitive and alert. It inculcates sportsman spirit which helps in arriving at unbiased decisions. “For sportsman, giving this best is more important than the results. The same applies in bureaucracy. One should give it the best, result follows,” said the winning captain Naveen Mahajan, who is currently serving as chairman and managing director of Rajasthan State Warehousing Corporation (RSWC).
Mahajan, a 1997 batch IAS officer, is regular in his tennis practice. Even at age of 52, he has not dropped his shoulder. Instead he works harder to win over his aging body and sharpen his reflexes. Ever since 2012-13 when the CS Challenger Cup started, there has been no change in the final tally. Team IAS led by Naveen Mahajan has been the champion team always.
Prakash Bhandari is a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience. He has worked with The Times of India for 30 years and contributed to leading publications as well as international news agency AFP.
