By S.N. Venkatnag Sobers

Mysore:

Nobody can dispute the fact that Mysore is tagged as Heritage City or the City of Palaces. Being home to some of the best historical structures and Palaces, our City is also home for many sports personalities who have made a mark in their respective sport. Among them are ‘Mysore Express’ Javagal Srinath, Lawn Tennis player Poojashree Venkatesh, Chess players M.S. Thejkumar, Girish Koushik and others. This Weekend Star Supplement brings together some of the young and upcoming sports stars who have earned accolades both at National and International level.

Sporting talents born to excel

Pratheek Raja

Talented skater Pratheek Raja has done everyone proud with his feats in the Roller Skating scene in the National and International-level. His feats were given due recognition when the Karnataka Government awarded him with the Ekalavya Award earlier this year.

Prateek captained the Indian team in the Asian Games held at Guangzhou, China. He won 5 gold medals and the Individual Championship in the men’s section and emerged as the fastest skater of the meet at the 48th National Roller Skating Championships at Vaizag. He was part of the Karnataka team which retained the Overall Championship title in the National championship.

Pratheek took up to roller skating at a young age of 7 years. He is the current National Men’s champion. Now 23 years old, Pratheek is a B.com graduate and has started his own club — Imperial Skating Club — in city and has trained many skaters who have gone on to win medals in the National and State-level championships. He is encouraged by his mother Mahalakshmi who is working in the District Training Centre.

Pratheek has won the National championship title in the men’s section for 5 years and has secured 14 golds in National championships. He has donned Indian colours five times. Presently he is training under K. SrikanthaRao, Ekalavya Awardee and Indian Team coach, at the VMRSC & Rao’s Roller Skating Club in city.

He represented the country in the 13th Asian Roller skating championship at Haining, China during 2008 and also in the 10th Asian Roller Skating championships at Akita, Japan during 2004. Pratheek intends to do well in the forthcoming championships representing India and bring laurels to our Country and State with his performance.

Shraddha Rani B. Desai

Shraddha Rani B. Desai did everyone proud with her feats in the recently concluded 24th National Inter-zone junior athletic meet held at Pune by winning gold in the 1,500 m event in the girls U-20 section. Sharaddha, 20, is a student of Teresian First Grade College in city. She is a product of the Sports Hostel Mysore and is being coached by former International athlete Damodar Gowda. With the encouragement and guidance from DYSS, College and support from her coach this talented athlete has the potential in her to make her mark in higher level.

J. Suchith

All rounder J. Suchith has been performing consistently and has represented Karnataka in the Shafi Darashah All-India cricket tournament held in Bangalore. He captained the Mysore Zone U-19 team at the Inter-Moffussil tournament which was held at Mysore. Suchith bowls left-arm spin and bats in middle-order. He has represented Karnataka in the Cooch Behar All-India U-19 tournament. He represented Mysore Gymkhana in the KSCA Mysore Zonal league in the first division. He represented the State U-13, U-15, U-17, U-19 and U-22 teams and South Zone in the U-15, U-17 and U-19 levels.

H.S. Sharath

Mandya and Mysore Zone player Hosagaviappa Shivalingiah Sharath announced his arrival in the National circuit by scalping a 5 wicket haul in his debut Ranji trophy match against Uttar Pradesh in Meerut recently. He rocked the UP batting line up and returned with figures of 5/60 on his first day in first-class cricket. His performance helped Karnataka to restrict UP to 273/9 in 90 overs on the first day.

This 19-year-old Mandya lad, who began his cricketing career at PET Cricket Club, Mandya in 1997, was initially coached by Mahadev, cricket coach at the PET Institutions. A tall lad with good pace, Sharath developed into a good medium-pacer and represented Mysore Zone in the U-16, U-19, U-22 & U-25 levels. He also earned the State cap in the U-16, U-19, U-22 and U-25 levels. His consistent performance for Karnataka in the U-25 Col. C.K. Nayudu Tournament helped him to earn a place in the State Ranji squad.

He is the son of Shivalingiah and Puttagowramma from Hosagavi village in Mandya. It was Sharath’s mother who brought him to PET grounds in Mandya to enroll him in the Cricket Club.

He attended the MRF Pace Foundation Camp in Chennai this year and learnt the finer points of fast bowling from none other than Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath. He has emerged as the front-line bowler in the Karnataka bowling line-up in the absence of Vinay Kumar and Mithun, who were out with injuries.

M.V. Spoorthy

Table tennis player M.V. Spoorthy has been consistently winning titles in the State-level both in the sub-junior and junior girls sections. Spoorthy is a product of the PTTA, Mysore and is coached by Rajashekar. Encouraged by her parents, this lass has been performing well in the State-level tournaments as well in the National-level. She has represented Karnataka in the Nationals in the sub-junior girls and junior girls sections. Spoorthy is a student of CFTRI School in city. Spoorthy won the titles in the State championships held at Belgaum, Dharwad, Bangalore and also at Mysore. An attacking player on both the flanks, this girl is seeded No.1 in the sub-junior girls section in the State and intends to work hard and win a medal in the National level in the days to come.

Nisha Joseph

Nisha Joseph of Sports Hostel Mysore, is being coached by Ashok, SAK, Volleyball coach at DYSS. Nisha is a final year B.Com student at Teresian College. DYSS volleyball team finished third in the All-India Dasara Invitation volleyball tournament and Nisha played an important role. She led the Mysore University Volleyball team at South Zone Inter-Varsity volleyball championships at Guntur in October. She captained the Indian team which finished 6th in the Asian Junior Volleyball championships at Bangkok. She is the daughter of Joseph Mari and Elizabeth Rani and a native of Dooranahally in KR Nagar. She started playing when she was in 8th standard. She joined Vidyanagar Sports School, Bangalore and started making heady progress in the sport.

Suraj R. Prabodh

Suraj R. Prabodh of Mysore Tennis Club in Chamarajapuram has been consistently performing well in the senior U-18 sections, both in the International and National-level. He also played in ITF One Jet Grade IV tennis tournament for juniors at Bundung, Indonesia, where he reached the semi-finals. Suraj has also taken part in the two ITF tournaments held at Mandya and Mysore in the men’s section. He won the men’s singles title in the recently concluded AITA NVK Men’s 50k All-India Ranking Tennis tournament 2012 at Hyderabad.

Suraj had represented India in Australian Open junior tournament and played in the qualifying round last season. He is presently ranked 340 in the World in the junior rankings. He is among the top 10 junior players in the country. He won his maiden ITF Junior title after winning at Indian ITF Junior tournament (Grade V) at Guwahati in 2011. He also took part in the ITF tournaments in Mumabi. Suraj performed well in the Adidas-MCC National junior tennis championship held at Chennai where he entered the semi-finals in the singles event.

He is the son of Renukananda Prabodh and Tejawathi. Suraj is so indulged in Tennis that his father Reukananda said that there were no backup career options for Suraj if tennis did not work for him as he is very confident of excelling in the sport.

S. Varun Karthik

Varun Karthik is a talented footballer from Mysore. Having started playing football from the age of 10, he has gone on to represent State in Junior National Championships. The 21-year-old Varun has represented Sports Union FC, Nanjangud, Ganesha FC and Dugramba FC in the Mysore District Football League. He is currently representing Royals FC in the league matches and credits the Club for his success. Varun plays in forward position and is a prolific scorer in the league matches held in Mysore.

Varun was also a member of University of Mysore Football team which participated at the South Zone Inter University Tournament held at Trivandrum last year.

Varun has been a getting a lot of encouragement from his parents T. Subash and N. Shantha and aims to play in higher level. He also credits his physical education teachers Mahesh and Shivanna for his success. He is currently a pursuing his 2nd year BBM at TTL college in Mysore.

M.S. Abhilash

This 23-year-old footballer started to play football at a young age of 9 years. Abhilash has achieved a rare feat of representing the State in the prestigious Santosh Trophy. He also represented Mysore University 3 times and has led the team in 2010. Abhilash has presented Karnataka in Sub Junior, Junior and U-21 National tourney. Abhilash represents Royals FC at the Mysore Division Football League. Currently, he is pursuing MBA at Bahadur Institute of Mana-gement Sciences, Manasagangothri. He credits his coaches and parents M.K. Sundaresh and Vishalakshi for his success.

S.K. Apsana

Apasana is from the Vidyanagar Sports Hostel in Bangalore. Her field of interest is 400 mts hurdles. But, she has also won medals in 4×100 relay and 4×400 mts relay events at the University level.

Apasana is currently being trained under the watchful eyes of SAK Coach Damodhar Gowda. She is a silver medallist in the 400 mts hurdles in Amateur National Championships held at Lucknow recently.

Apasana has also represented University of Mysore in All India Inter University championships. She is currently pursuing her 1st year degree at Teresian College in city.

Reena George

Reena George was a student of Vidyanagar Sports Hostel in Bangalore. She came to Mysore after completing her high school education. Later, she joined Mysore Sports Hostel and got trained under athlete coach Damodhar Gowda. Reena has emerged as undisputed champion in 400mts and 200mts run. Currently, she holds record in 400 mts for University of Mysore and also in Dasara Sports. She also won a gold medal in U-20 National Championships held recently. She has been representing University of Mysore at various levels. Reena is a part of Mysore University Athletic team which will be participating at the All India Inter University Athletic Championships to be held at Kolkata in Jan. 2013. She has been selected for the Indian camp which is preparing for the Asian Track and Field Championships to be held at Chennai in 2013. Reena is studying at Teresian College in city.

Bibi Sumaya

Bibi Sumaya is the current U-20 National 200 mts champion. A student of Teresian College, she is currently undergoing training under Damodhar Gowda, SAK Athletic coach. Sumaya is a product of Kudgi Sports Hostel in Coorg. Sumaya took up to athletics while she was studying 6 std. Later, after completing her high school she came to Mysore to pursue her training in athletics as well as higher education.

Sumaya has emerged as an undisputed queen in 100 mts and 200 mts. She currently holds record for 200 mts in Women’s Nationals, Mysore University and Dasara Sports Meet. She was also the part of the team which won the gold medal at University-level in 4×100 mts relay and also 4×100 mts relay and 4×400 mts relay in Dasara Sports. Currently, she is preparing for the Asian Track and Field Championship which is scheduled to be held in Chennai later in 2013.

Kavyashree

Kavyashree is an upcoming hockey player from city. She was trained in Kudgi Sports Hostel initially before she moved to Mysore.

Kavyashree has been representing the University of Mysore for the past four years.

She will be representing the University of Mysore at the All India Inter-University Championships to be held in Rajasthan later in January, 2014.

B. Pourush

Pourush is an upcoming swimmer from city. Having specialised in breath stroke, he has won medals at State-level Inter School Championships. He started his training since the age of 3 and continues to train under the University of Mysore Swimming Coach Puttaswamy and retired coach Nabhiram. He is currently studying 9th std. at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Mysore.

Muthamma

Muthamma is an upcoming hockey player in Mysore. Previously, she has been a part of Senior Women’s Hockey camp which trained in Bhopal. Having proved her potential, Muthamma has been selected to represent the State in Junior National Championship which will held in Delhi during January 2014.

Muthamma started to play hockey when she was in 6th std. and was initially trained in Kudgi Sports Hostel in Coorg. After, coming to Mysore, she has been able to reach great heights and Muthamma has represented the University of Mysore for three years at the Inter-University Hockey tournaments.

A.S.Deekshith

Deekshith is a promising swimmer from Mysore. A student of Anantha Geetha Vidyalaya in J.P. Nagar, Deekshith aims to achieve great heights in the field of sports he loves.

Deekshith has won medals in many District and State-level swimming championships. He specialises in 50 mts freestyle and 50 mts backstroke swimming.

V.N. Prathamesh

He is a student of Vijaya Vittala Vidyashala. Prathamesh has been performing consistently in every swimming championship he participates. Prathamesh has taken up all major events in swimming which includes butterfly, backstroke, freestyle and breadth stroke. He is currently studying in 5th std and aims to reach great heights in the future.

Dr. Varsha Puranik

Dr. Varsha Puranik is pursuing her M.D (Mirco Biology) at JSS Medical College. She is trained by Ekalavya Awardee Sr-ikanth Rao. She took up roller skating in 1990 after being inspired by her elder brother. Varsha is the first roller skater from India to win a medal at Asian Cham-pionship in 2001. She has won 28 gold medals at National level. She was a part of Indian contingent which took part in the world championships in Italy.

Nirmith Nityanand

Nirmith is a right hand batsman and also bowls leg spinners. He has represented U-15, U-17, U-19 and U-22 State teams. Nirmith has been representing RBNCC in KSCA Mysore Zonal-level league matches and FUCC in Bangalore league. A BE graduate in Construction Technology & Management from SJCE, Nirmith played for U-14 and U-16 National-level C.K. Naidu tournament in his school days.

V. Varshith

Varshith started his career in roller skating in 2001-2002 and from then on he has made a name for himself in roller sports. He is a remarkable skater and has been winning almost every championship he has participated in so far. Varshith has won several gold medals at National and State level championships.

Varshith won bronze medal in the 15th Asian Championship when he was 14 years in the Under 19 category, held at Kaohsiung city, Taipei from July 16 to 25, 2010. He was also impressive in the Junior Men 3,000 mts relays where he won a bronze medal and was placed 4th in 500 mt road race, 4th in 20 km elimination & 5000 m relay and also 5th in 10 km point-to-point and 6th in 15 km rink elimination races.

He has won 9 National gold medals with three Individual Championship, 6 silver medals and 4 bronze medals. His overall Medals in International, National and State championships are 45 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze medals.

He recently participated in the 15th Asian Championship held in China and was placed 4th in 3000 mts relay. His brilliant performance in the 28th State Championship recently held at Belgaum earned him 3 gold medals and Individual Championship. In the year 2014, he will try to become the first skater in the Country to win gold medal in the 16th Asian Championship.

He is currently studying in I PUC at Chaitra PU College in city. He is the son of B.Venugopal, who was recently conferred with the Rashtriya Udyog Ratna Award by the National Organisation of Commerce and Industry and Geetha Venugopal.

Ruthu Rohit

Ruthu Rohit is a student of St. Joseph’s Higher Primary School. She won her first State ranking tourney at Bangalore conducted by Canara Union Malleshwaram. She won her 2nd title in Sir M. Vishvesvarya Memorial TT Tourney at CFTRI. In the State championships conducted by Karnataka TT Association in memory of C.V.L. Shastry, Ruthu won the cadet event by beating top seed Ayesha Siddiqui. Ruthu will be representing the State Cadet team in the 74th cadet and sub junior nationals at Gandhidham, Gujrat from Jan 16, 2014. She is the daughter of Rohit Ramdev and Rekha.

Ridhi Rohit

Ridhi is one of the most promising table tennis players in Mysore. Ridhi captained Karnataka State under-14 team to 53rd SGFI National school games held at Mizoram in 2007-2008. She won 8 out of 9 State ranking tournaments in cadet (U-12) in 2008-2009. She also led State U-12, U-14, State sub-junior teams. She represented the State in National schools games held in Chandigarh in 2008-09, sub-juniors at Chennai in 2009-10, State Junior U-17 and U-21 teams at Youth Championships held at Ahmedabad in Gujrat. She is a student of St. Joseph’s High School.

Ranjitha

Ranjitha, a native of Shimoga, is an upcom-ing volleyball player and is currently pursuing final year B.Com at Teresian College. Ranjitha has also represented the State in Senior National and University-level tournaments. She was a member of the Indian team which took part in the Jr. Asian Championships at Thailand in 2011-12. She has been representing University of Mysore at Inter-University Championships for the past 3 years. Currently, she is gearing up for Senior Natl. Championships to be held in Rajasthan next year.

Akash Aaradhya

Akash Aaradhya holds the National record for under-19 short distance roller skating. He won a gold and silver medal at National championships.

Akash Aaradhya was also a member of Indian team which participated at World Championships in Italy and Asian Championship in China.

Akash is being trained by Ekalavya Awardee Srikanth Rao, who has been producing talented roller skaters from the city over the past few years.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> Feature Articles / December 15th, 2012