Odisha Tennis Association felicitates young tennis talents

Bhubaneswar, Jan 05: Odisha Tennis Association felicitated two young tennis talents of the State today in a function at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Debasis Sahoo, currently ranked number one, U-16 & U-18, in Odisha, has shown huge promise as a budding talent at the national level. Debasis is the first player from Odisha to play the prestigious junior event of “Road to Wimbledon Master Qualifying Tournament” in the U-14 Boys category in 2019. He is currently preparing for Junior Davis Cup and will make the state proud if he does so in 2022. Sohini Sanjay Mohanty, currently seeded number one in U-14 girls category in the state and seven in India, has started making her journey into big leagues like ITF. She has not only earned numerous laurels but has the distinction of being the youngest player from Odisha to have won more than sixty titles. She stood 3rd representing India in the U-11 Ten-Pro 2019 at Rafal Nadal Academy, Spain. Tusharkanti Behera, Sports Minister, felicitated both the young talents. On this occasion, the Minister also launched a mobile application of the Odisha Tennis Academy. The application will facilitate online registration of players for coaching, assignment of coaches, booking of the courts, issue of identity card etc. to the players. Currently, five coaches are engaged in Kalinga Stadium and coaching more than one hundred young players. The new office of the Odisha Tennis Association was also inaugurated by the Minister on this occasion.  Asit Tripathy, President, OTA, expressed hope that the Academy will produce players of national and international fame. Dr. Satyajit Mohanty, Honorary Secretary, spelt out the future plan of the Academy in promoting tennis in the State and thanked the Sports Department of Government of Odisha for the support in running the Academy. Sanjeeb Panda, Joint Secretary, organised the function.