Prithvi Sekhar (born 3 October 1993) is an Indian male deaf tennis player. He represented India at the

Deaflympics The Deaflympics also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athlet ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. He won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the

2017 Summer Deaflympics ) , nations = 86 , athletes = 2,873 , events = 219 in 18 sports , stadium = Samsun 19 Mayıs Stadium , opened_by = Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , torch_lighter = Ertuğrul Bursa , opening = July 18, 2017 , closing ...

partnering with

Jafreen Shaik Shaik Jafreen (born 7 September 1997) is a deaf Indian tennis player. She represented India at the Deaflympics in 2013 and 2017. She claimed a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics partnering with Prithvi Sekhar. ...

. He is also currently employed in the Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai.

Biography

Prithvi started playing tennis from 2002 when he was just eight years old. He was actually left with two options either to choose cricket or tennis at the age of eight and he decided to choose the latter. He idolised tennis icons Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

Early career

He went on to represent India at the

2013 Summer Deaflympics The 2013 Summer Deaflympics ( bg, 2013 летни дефлимпийски игри), officially known as the 22nd Summer Deaflympics ( bg, 22-ра лятна глуха олимпиада), was an international multi-sport event that took place ...

which was also his first Deaflympic appearance, but he did not win a medal. It was through his mother he managed to get to know about a tournament like Deaflympics of its stature. He was sent by his mother to take part in the national trials in 2013 which was held in Aurangabad where he proved his worth by claiming gold medals in both men's singles and men's doubles. Due to his notable performances, he was selected to the Indian contingent for 2013 Summer Deaflympics. Prithvi was selected to compete for

India at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics India competed in the 2017 Summer Deaflympics which was held in Samsun, Turkey. India sent a delegation consisting of 46 participants for the event. This was the 13th time that India participated at the Deaflympics, Summer Deaflympics since mak ...

as India sent a delegation consisting of 46 participants for the multi-sport event. Prithvi Sekhar along with

claimed a historical bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the

, marking India's first ever Deaflympic medal in tennis.

Rising up through ranks

He then became a prolific tennis player despite being deaf, improving his ratings in the ATP singles and doubles to be among the top ten deaf players. His first breakthrough in professional tennis circuit eventually came in May 2018 when he scored his first ATP point by winning a match at the International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour which was held in China. He won the men's singles world title at the 2019 World Deaf Tennis Championships after defeating Czech Republic's Jaroslav Smedek 6–4, 6–3 in straight sets in the men's final. He came into the 2019 World Deaf Tennis Championships unseeded. However, he defied the odds defeating four seeded players including top seed world no 1. Gabor Mathe of Hungary and then beating third seed Jaroslav Smedek in the final to claim his first world title. He also secured bronze medal in men's doubles event at 2019 World Championships. He was also part of the Indian Railways team which claimed gold medal in the World Tennis Railway Championships in 2019 which was held in Bulgaria. He made his second Deaflympic appearance during the 2021 Summer Deaflympics (held in May 2022) representing India and he claimed three medals in the competition. During the

2021 Summer Deaflympics ) , nations participating = 72 , athletes participating = 2466 , Events = 219 in 18 sports , stadium = Festa da Uva Main Paviliion , officially opened by = First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro , torch lighter = , opening ...

, he teamed up with Dhananjay Dubey to claim silver in men's doubles event whereas he collaborated with Jafreen Shaikh to clinch bronze in

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...

. He also secured a bronze in men's singles event to increase his personal medal tally to three during the multi-sport event.

References

External links

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Prithvi Sekhar
at Tennis Explorer
Prithvi Sekhar
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sekhar, Prithvi 1993 births Living people Indian male tennis players Tennis players at the 2013 Summer Deaflympics Tennis players at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics Tennis players at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics Medalists at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics Medalists at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics Deaflympic silver medalists for India Deaflympic bronze medalists for India Deaf tennis players Indian deaf people Racket sportspeople from Chennai Tamil sportspeople