Prithvi claims singles title at the Australian Open Deaf championship

Prithvi Sekhar had a memorable outing in the Australian Open Deaf Championships, winning the singles title and finishing runner-up with Glen Flindell in doubles, in Melbourne.

India’s Prithvi Sekhar had a memorable outing in the Australian Open Deaf Championships, winning the singles title and finishing runner-up, with Glen Flindell in doubles, in Melbourne.

“It was great to win the singles title this time, beating the same player Gabor Mathe of Hungary, to whom I had lost in the semifinals last year. I also had a shoulder injury then. This time I was better prepared and very motivated”, said Prithvi, who spent a few weeks in Australia with his relatives before playing the three-day event in Melbourne that concluded on Sunday.

It could have been a double crown for Prithvi and partner Glen, but for them missing their chances from being up 6-0, 5-2 against Mathe and Esah Hyat in a league match.

“We had a match point on deuce, and a few other chances but we made mistakes”, recalled Prithvi, about the 6-0, 5-7, [7-10] loss in the second league match. The duo won the third league match easily to take the runners-up trophy.

“I prepared well and played with superb intensity and proper tactics against every opponent. I had the rhythm and momentum to win all my singles matches”, said Prithvi who dropped one set in five matches.

Prithvi got to watch a lot of matches featuring top players at the Australian Open. He also got to watch the matches of Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal apart from Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth.

In fact, Prithvi got to train for a few days in Sydney with Anirudh and Vijay before they went for their tournament.