Karnataka’s junior tennis player S Soha made history of sorts when she emerged as champion in the National School Games (NSG) tennis tournament in Pune earlier this month, thereby, beginning the new year on a rousing note.
The 15-year-old, 10th standard student of Cluny Convent, Jalahalli, thus became the first Karnataka girl to win the NSG tennis title in recent years. Soha defeated Urmi Pandey of Gujarat 5-4 (5) in the final.
“I am happy I won the title as it was a tough tournament, especially the semi-finals and finals,” said Soha, a trainee of the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy. Soha was quick to acknowledge that she owed her success to the support of her parents, school and her coaches Krishna Bhupathi, S Praveen Kumar and Prakash.
“My coaches have been encouraging me in every respect and I have learnt everything from them. I owe my success to them,” she added. Prior to the NSG title, Soha had won the under-16 title AITA Championship Series conducted by the Topspin Academy at Bangalore and was a runner-up in the AITA Super Series at Chandigarh.
She managed to reach the semi-finals in the R T Narayan Cup National Series in Bangalore. She has won about 50 titles in her fledgling career in the under-12, under-14, under-16 sections so far. A commendable achievement by any standards.
Her coach at MBTA, S Praveen Kumar, a former ITF and ATP player, was all praise for her. “She is a dedicated youngster with a lot of promise. She can go up the ladder, with more exposure, especially in Junior ITF category. She works very hard and is a very willing learner. That makes it easier to coach her,” Praveen added.
P R Ramaswamy, Joint Secretary of the KSLTA, while congratulating Soha said, “After a long time, we have a champion in the National School Games and KSLTA wishes Soha more such successes. We will see how best we can support her.”
Soha had done very well in the AITA Talent Series Tennis tournament for under-14 and under-16 (boys and girls) at the MTC and Raghuveer Tennis courts in Mysore as a tiny tot way back in 2009. That’s when she showed a lot of promise and though she did not win the title there, there was no doubt that a young girl with loads of talent had arrived on the tennis scene in the state.
Soha beat Priyanka M 6-0, 6-1 on her way to the semis in the R T Narayan memorial tournament and displayed her confidence in executing her forehand and backhand strokes. She also has a good first serve and surely should be able to improve her stamina as she progresses.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by S Shreekumar – Bangalore / January 16th, 2014