Sport - Tennis

Sandri gets a sponsor

HYDERABAD APRIL 14 . The sponsors could not have come at a better time for one of the most promising tennis players from Hyderabad, Sandri Gangotri, ranked No.1 in the country in under-14 age category, who was picked to represent India in the World junior championship to be held in Jakarta from May 7 to 13.

The ninth standard student of Hiltop High School is grateful to a philanthropist Mr. D. Sanjeeva Reddy and the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh for providing a financial assistance of Rs. 1 lakh each to help her.

Gangotri, who recently won the girls singles title in the AITA ranking tournament in Jubilee Hills International Centre, is being coached by qualified Ganesh Raman at his Park View Tennis Academy for the last five years.

Just when her parents, Mr.S.Rajaiah and Ms. S.Shakuntala, started worrying about the financial burden that they have to bear in view of the important schedule Gangotri had ahead, the offer of Mr.Sanjeeva Reddy, to contribute from his personal savings with the desire to see an Andhra player win laurels, came as a big morale booster and there was double delight with even SAAP granting Rs.1 lakh for Gangotri.

Mr. L.V. Subrahmanyam, vice-chairman and managing director of SAAP, who handed over the cheque of Rs.1 lakh given by Mr.Reddy to Gangotri today, said that the SAAP had also taken a policy decision to grant Rs.1 lakh each to all the five players in the country in their respective age groups and will also in probability chip in with an equal amount for the next year if the player wins any international tournament. ``For us, giving money or not is the question. We are more bothered about consistency and I hope that Gangotri would be a different player in the coming months,'' he remarked.

Gangotri's coach Raman, who taught the girl from a very young age, says that the strong points of Gangotri are her fighting spirit and very good groundstrokes. ``Her first serve is really good but not the second serve, which is, however, not bad to be called a weaklink,'' he said. Raman, a familiar figure at all the tennis tournaments in the twin cities for nearly a decade now, says that Gangotri's double-fisted backhand was one of the better strokes the prodigy has. ``We are training her for nearly five hours a day with more emphasis on skills than on physical conditioning,'' Raman informed.

For the record, Gangotri is ranked India No.2 in under-16, No.15 in under-18 and No.10 in under-18 categories. Her best performance in recent times was when she finished fourth in the ITF South and Central Asian Tournament in Delhi; a performance that earned her a berth in the Indian team that took part in the Asia Oceania Group I Federation Cup championship.

Mr. Rajaiah, father of Gangotri, thanked Mr. Reddy and the SAAP for their financial assistance and promised that his daughter would live up to the expectations.

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