I thank Chandra sir for guiding me: Ramkumar
The Hindu
Have always advised him to play to his strengths, says his coach
The maiden Challenger singles title has come at the right time for the 27-year-old Ramkumar Ramanathan, who has matured into an all-court player.
Ramkumar, who shot to World No. 186 and No.1 in the country after he beat Evgeny Karlovskiy of Russia 6-1, 6-4 in the final, was grateful, especially to coach T. Chandrasekaran for his constant guidance.
“At this moment, I thank Chandra sir for guiding me all the way. We spoke before each match and it really helped me stay focused. He made me believe in myself and in my resources during every match. I thank God for keeping me healthy,” said Ramkumar after the triumph in Bahrain.
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.
Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.
The other men’s semifinal Friday is Norway’s Casper Ruud, twice the runner-up in Paris — to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023 — against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open, an Olympic gold medalist and into the final four at Roland Garros for the fourth consecutive year.