Mumbai:
Atharva Shinde has become the first tennis player from the Marathwada region of Maharashtra to top the state annual rankings in the boys under 10 category for 2014.
Nitten Kirrtane and Prarthana Thombare headed the rankings for men and women respectively while Aryan Goveas topped the under 16 and 18 boys’ sections, according to a release from the state tennis body MSLTA.
Goveas, Kirrtane and Prarthana also emerged as no. 1 tennis players in the state for the year ended 2014 at the all India level.
While Goveas was no. 4 in the under 16 and no. 3 in under 18 boys, Prarthana was no. 2 among women and Kirrtane was 22nd among men.
“The work of the MSLTA at the grass roots has started paying off. We are happy that Atharva Shinde from Aurangabad is the first player from the region to be seeded No 1 player in the under 10 category,” said MSLTA secretary Sunder Iyer.
“This is the first time in the history of MSLTA that a person from Marathwada region finished as the top player in the girls section too as Aryanka Kade finished a close 2nd in the girls under 10 category,” he added.
Aryan Goveas of Mumbai emerged as No. 1 player in two categories in the Boys Under 16 and 18 events, Eshaan Lumba (Boys Under 12) , Mihika Yadav (Girls Under 18) were the other No. 1 players from Mumbai region.
Pune region took the honours of finishing the most No.1 players for the second year in a row with five No. 1 players which included Riya Bhosale (Girls Under 10), Sanya Singh ( irls Under 12) , Siddanth Banthia (Boys under 14) , Shivani Ingle (Girls under 16) and old warhorse Nitten Kirrtane (Men).
Asian Games bronze medallist Prarthana Thombare of Barshi in Solapur emerged No. 1 player in the women’s group.
Mahek Jain (Girls under 14) led the rise of Navi Mumbai region which emerged as the region with third largest number of ranked players in the state after Pune and Mumbai.
“We are also very happy that 15 players from Maharashtra finished in top 8 ranking in the country with Siddanth Banthia and Mahek Jain finishing No. 1 in India while eight players from Maharashtra also represented India in various Junior Davis and Fed Cup events in 2014,” Iyer remarked.
