When I Won First Medal In 2017 Deaflympics, No One Congratulated Me’

From representing the nation at the Deaflympics in 2013 to winning India’s first medal in 2017 and now focusing on ‘the next aim’, tennis star Prithvi Sekhar recently opened up about his journey as a deaf athlete in India along with the struggles that come with it. He not only provided details about the milestones he achieved in several years of hard work but also expressed grief on lack of encouragement. Most recently in 2019, the 27-year-old became the men’s singles champion in the World Deaf Tennis Championship in Antalya, Turkey.

In a recent interaction on Sports Tiger’s show ‘Building Bridge’, Sekhar spoke about the very first milestone of his career in tennis when he bagged a historic bronze at 2017 Summer Deaflympics teamed up with Jafreen Shaik. Prith vi was born and brought up in Chennai and represented India in Deaflympics after his mother came to know about it nearly seven years ago. 

The 27-year-old also revealed that it was his mother who sent him to participate in the nationals in Aurangabad where he won a gold medal in singles as well as doubles. This further paved the way for the tennis star to represent India in the tournament. Following his momentous selection, Sekhar also recalled being exhilarated and proud.

When the Indian tennis star was asked about the support he received from the administration throughout the journey, he expressed grief on not getting enough encouragement and even mentioned how he had applied for the Arjuna award but was, unfortunately, not considered. Sekhar said that nobody congratulated him after bagging the historic medal for India for the first time in 2017 and how not even a single deaf athlete received the prestigious Arjuna award in 2020 despite his record of achievements. 

Just last year, unseeded Sekhar defeated four seeded players including top seed Gabor Mathe of Hungary in the semi-finals to become the men’s singles champion in the World Deaf Tennis Championship in Antalya, Turkey. While talking about his win, the 27-year-old said, “He spoke about his victory at the world championship “I was so happy and proud of it that I won the gold medal. It was my biggest achievement.” He was also felicitated with the International Sportsman of the Year award by the Italy-based International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) in 2019.