Updated 24 December 2020 at 18:10 IST
Prithvi Sekhar: 'When I won first medal in 2017 Deaflympics, no one congratulated me'
From Deaflympics in 2013 to winning India’s first-ever medal in 2017 & now focusing on ‘the next aim’, tennis star Prithvi Sekhar's inspiring journey.
- SportFit
- 4 min read
From representing the nation at the Deaflympics in 2013 to winning India’s first medal in 2017 and now focusing on ‘the next aim’, tennis star Prithvi Sekhar recently opened up about his journey as a deaf athlete in India along with the struggles that come with it. He not only provided details about the milestones he achieved in several years of hard work but also expressed grief on lack of encouragement. Most recently in 2019, the 27-year-old became the men’s singles champion in the World Deaf Tennis Championship in Antalya, Turkey.
In a recent interaction on Sports Tiger’s show ‘Building Bridge’, Sekhar spoke about the very first milestone of his career in tennis when he bagged a historic bronze at 2017 Summer Deaflympics teamed up with Jafreen Shaik. Prith vi was born and brought up in Chennai and represented India in Deaflympics after his mother came to know about it nearly seven years ago.
The 27-year-old also revealed that it was his mother who sent him to participate in the nationals in Aurangabad where he won a gold medal in singles as well as doubles. This further paved the way for the tennis star to represent India in the tournament. Following his momentous selection, Sekhar also recalled being exhilarated and proud.
“When I went there, I was so happy to win a gold in singles and gold in doubles. I was so proud of it to get selected to represent India to play for the Deaflympics,” he said.
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Lack of encouragement and Sekhar’s ‘next aim’
When the Indian tennis star was asked about the support he received from the administration throughout the journey, he expressed grief on not getting enough encouragement and even mentioned how he had applied for the Arjuna award but was, unfortunately, not considered. Sekhar said that nobody congratulated him after bagging the historic medal for India for the first time in 2017 and how not even a single deaf athlete received the prestigious Arjuna award in 2020 despite his record of achievements.
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Just last year, unseeded Sekhar defeated four seeded players including top seed Gabor Mathe of Hungary in the semi-finals to become the men’s singles champion in the World Deaf Tennis Championship in Antalya, Turkey. While talking about his win, the 27-year-old said, “He spoke about his victory at the world championship “I was so happy and proud of it that I won the gold medal. It was my biggest achievement.” He was also felicitated with the International Sportsman of the Year award by the Italy-based International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) in 2019.
On lack of support, Sekhar said, “When I won the first medal in 2017 in Deaflympics, no one congratulated me. There is only support for normal Olympics and Paralympics.”
Sekhar also recalled his early days before indicating that his next aim is to break in the Top 500 in the ATP ranking and focus on the normal tournaments like AITA, ITF while eyeing grand slams. He is also hoping to get a gold medal in the upcoming Deaflympics in Brazil in 2021. The 27-year-old recalled studying in ‘Bala Vidyalaya’ and eventually being transferred to a CBSE school and starting to play tennis at the age of 8. While acing his career in sports, Sekhar also got a degree in MBA in 2017 and was appointed by ICF which is a part of Railways, who he represented in several tournaments.
He said, “My aim is focused on normal tournaments like AITA, ITF and see whether I can get into grand slams or not. My next aim is to earn a gold medal and do my best in the next Deaflympics in Brazil in 2021. Another aim is to break in the Top 600 or 500 in the ATP ranking and see if I can do it or not.”
Published By : Aanchal Nigam
Published On: 24 December 2020 at 18:12 IST