Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, May 11: Brining laurels to Jammu and Kashmir, son of the soil, Praneel Sharma has won his first International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour (ITF Juniors) title held at Bhubaneswar.
Praneel, in his teens (16), defeated higher-ranked opponent Debasis Sahoo (18) in straight sets by 6-4, 7-5 in the finals played at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Praneel becomes the first player from J&K to win an ITF World Tour Juniors Title.
Odisha Tennis Association (OTA) and Department Sports and Youth Services, Government of Odisha, organized the tournament. President of OTA Asit Tripathy presented trophies in the presence of Secretary OTA, Dr Satyajit Mohanty ( Retd), Tournament Director Sanjeeb Panda and Director Sports Govt of Odisha-Sidharth Das.
Praneel, who has appeared in his 10th standard board exams this year, reached the finals of ITF Tournaments for the third time in 2024. In the last two finals played in Nepal and Raipur( India), he was runners up, read the handout.
He is currently undergoing training in Chandigarh with Round Glass Tennis Academy under the guidance of internationally renowned coach Aditya Sachdeva who has trained International Tennis stars like Yuki Bambri. He is currently supported by Roundglass Sports Foundation with 100 percent Scholarship.
Praneel, who has been ranked among the top 5 Indian players in the under 16 category, has many National and Asian Tennis Federation trophies to his credit.
Born to Navneet Sharma and Administrative officer in Jammu and Kashmir government Veedushi Kapoor Sharma, Praneel started playing ITF World Tennis Tour series (Juniors – Under 18) in May 2023 and since then he has traveled to Kenya, Nepal, and multiple Indian cities for his tournaments.
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