Sharmada keen to make a mark
Lack of support worries teenager
At 17, Sharmada Balu has nearly exhausted the pages of her passport. While those hectic trips have hardly posed a problem for the determined teenage tennis talent, the Bangalorean feels the inability to foot the bills of her future sojourns might hamper her career.
Part of the Apollo Tyres Mission 2018 programme, Sharmada, who was handpicked by multiple Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi in 2006, has travelled to nearly 15 countries, participating and honing her skills with great interest before her dreams of making it big suffered a huge jolt when Apollo Tyres pulled out last year to due various reasons.
But having set her eyes and mind firmly on tennis the youngster didn’t give up, opting to continue with her chosen path at her own expenses. After cooling her heels at home for two months, she joined Tennis Excellence in April 2010, took tutelage under coach Arjun Goutham before tranlsating her potential into a title win when she created history last month in the ITF tournament at Lucknow.
Seeded sixth, Sharmada took out top seed Anja Prislan of Slovenia in the quarterfinals, blasted past fourth seed Celine Cattaneo in the semifinals and then conquered Yvonne Nweurth in the title round to become India’s first junior player to win a senior ITF crown.
“The win is a great confidence booster,” said Sharmada at press conference here on Saturday. “The journey so far has been frutiful but it is still in the intial phase. I have miles to travel, but to do so I need sponsorship.
“We did approach a few of them, but they’ve already pledged their commitments for the year. Some of them want more results. While I have achieved National success, I am yet to win abroad. The competition is strong out there and I need to play more tournaments for which I need money.”
Sharmada, the reigning under-18 champion in the Adidas Nationals, is set to fly out with her mother to Barcelona for a 45-day fitness and conditioning camp under Javier Captaine on Monday.
“This entire trip costs Rs four lakh. I need more such trips if I were to succeed at the international level. I am very confident of my talent. I hope I get some support,” said Sharmada.
