Karnataka State Level Wheel Chair Tennis Tournament – 2016

“All eyes on this event at the moment, nothing else going on in the stadium except this High Jump. That is over ‘Thangavelu’ had 189, jumps in to Gold medal position”.

This moment on September 09^th 2016, gave inspiration to many Indians when ‘Mariyappan Thangavelu’ leaped 1.89m to win a goal medal in the men’s high jump T-42 event at Rio Paralympics.

And the presence of renowned athletic coach ‘Sathyanarayanan’ (Coach of ‘Mariyappan Thangavelu’) in Karnataka State Level Wheel Chair Tennis Tournament inspired many athletes.

Karnataka Wheel Chair Tennis Association (KWTA) conducted State level Tennis Tournament at KSLTA courts on September 25^th, 2016. Athletes from various districts of Karnataka participated in this event. There were singles and doubles tournament for both Men and Women.

Participants ‘Keshav’ and ‘Shankar’ came from Dharwad to participate in this event. Here they were seen posing before the start of the event.

Wheel Chair Tennis game follows the same rules as normal Tennis game except that the wheel chair tennis player is allowed two bounces of the ball. The player must return the ball before it hits ground a third time.

Here Shankar on the right is briefing Niranjan about the rules of the event.

There were players who had marked their presence in national and International tournaments and there were few who were holding racquet for the first time.

Niranjan who is doing ITI in Mandya played Tennis for the first time.

And the women’s singles began, Shilpashree and Nalini in central court.

Shilpashree in front is pushing herself to hit the ball on second bounce

Shilpashree won against Nalini, scores were 6-3 which led to book a place in final.

Nalini on the right congratulating Shilpashree

There were few one sided matches in Men’s league round.

Shekar (National champion) has played in International tournaments held in Thailand and Malaysia. He won 6-0 in the first match. Here he is serving for the match.

The men’s semifinal match between Gopinath and Madhu was very interesting. There were few rallies which caught the attention of spectators.

Gopinath took the initial lead, seen serving against Madhu

Madhu manages to return the high bounced ball to the other court

Scores were 6-6, Gopinath through his strong forehand managed to win against Madhu in a tie-breaker

Madhu studying final year B.com. is practicing Tennis for around 3 years. He has represented India in International Tournaments. Roger Federer is his inspiration. He narrowly lost against Gopinath in the Tie-breaker. He says he has to improve his backhand.

Women’s finals took place in central court. Prathima was playing against Shilpashree. Both have represented India in International tournaments.

Prathima is lobbying to the right to hit a forehand.

Finals was a 13 game match, initially Prathima took the lead 3-2 against Shipashree and cruised 6 games to 3. And then Shilpashree made a comeback to tally 6 all. And in the Tiebreaker, Pratima won 7 points against 3 to win Women’s singles final.

Shilpashree on the right congratulating Prathima on the left.

Men’s doubles semifinal match was in progress.

Match Referee Surendra holding the mike coordinated the event.

This tournament was a proud moment to many who showed their passion against all the odds.

Nalini’s father photographing her during the start of doubles final match.

Women’s doubles final match was in action, Shilpashree and Ammu was playing against Prathima and Nalini.

Ammu serving to Prathima during doubles finals.

Prathima and Nalini on the right won against Ammu and Shilpashree on the left.

Doubles duo Shilpashree and Ammu have represented India in many tournaments.

Men’s singles finals Gopinath playing against Shekar.

Gopinath took the initial lead 1-0 against Shekar.

The initial lead didn’t matter much as Shekar rallied past Gopinath to win 7-1 in the finals. Gopinath on the right congratulating Shekar on the left.

Shekar with his big serve and volley game has inspired fellow players. He is a national champion and has represented India in Thailand, Malaysia and South Africa. He along with Gopinath has won a doubles tournament in Bangkok.

‘Komfort Foundation’, a NGO was the Title Sponsor for this event. Prize distribution ceremony was held at 5pm which was attended by dignitaries such as ‘Mrs. Kusum Nehru Mallangada’ (Founder of Komfort Foundation), ‘Mrs. Usha Sharma (Co-founder – Komfort Foundation Project: Suraksha Sikshana), ‘Sri B.A. Naniappa’ (President, KSWTA), ‘Sri J. Chandrashekar’ (General Secretary, Paralympic Committee of India), ‘Sri Sunil Yajaman’ (Vice President, Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Federation of India), ‘Sri P.R. Ramaswamy’ (Hon. Joint Secretary, KSLTA), ‘Sri T. Seetharam’ (General Secretary, Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Federation of India) and ‘Sri B.G. Sandesha’ (Hon. Secretary, KWTA).

Sri T. Seetharam (General Secretary, Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Federation of India) goes past the big board while watching the match

Prize distribution ceremony in progress

Sri P.R. Ramaswamy (Hon. Secretary, KSLTA) in the middle has supported players by providing a separate court for them for the practice session.

Pruthvi (holding mike) and Gopinath coordinated Prize Distribution ceremony.

Volunteers helped players during the tournament.

Women’s doubles champions Nalini and Prathima

Men’s doubles champion Shekar and Gopinath

Women’s singles champion Prathima

Men’s singles champion Shekar

Group Photo after the Prize distribution ceremony.