Indian tennis prodigy Shrivalli Rashmikaa has been making waves in the Junior tennis circuit for some time now. The 20-year-old hailing from Telegana as she already has two AITA Junior National Championships to her name. She also won the invitational tournament organised by Roland Garros India in 2018 where she got the opportunity to be a wildcard entry into the Junior Roland-Garros main draw.
Rashmikaa has also been a semifinalist at an ITF Grade 3 event but for now, she is focused on improving herself. She is one of the players to watch out for in the Khelo India University Games girl’s draw. She will be representing Osmania University.
Speaking about the Khelo India event, Rashmikaa highlighted how difficult it is to organise such a multi-sport event with such precision. “It’s not easy to organise such a big multi-sport event, but everything over here has been arranged with careful precision and the organisers have done an incredible job. Even with the accommodation at the facility, the players get to experience the ‘Art of Living’ phase, which helps players meditate and is important to develop the mental aspect of the game.”
Rashmikaa feels that the Khelo India provides a platform where players are taken care of and given special care. She highlights how the event is an experience as a whole for every budding sportsperson. “I have played in multiple inter University Games before, but this is a different platform. The importance given to each sport is what sets this platform apart, and every athlete is made to feel special here. They make you feel like you are one of the big players here,” she added.
The budding tennis player highlighted how many youngsters like her who aspire to become professionals get a platform at the Khelo India University games to test their capabilities and their level against other youngsters.
“This platform provides a lot of motivation to the players to compete. A lot of players who are in universities and want to turn pro in their sport feel like they are running out of time to do so and need to focus more on their academics, but what these Games do is provide the players with a platform to see where they stand, test their level, and identify the aspects they need to work more on. You get confidence from winning matches at this stage, and even when you lose, you learn what you need to work on. Therefore, continuing to organize these Games will eventually raise the level of competition and no one is going to take sports lightly.”
Lastly, Rashmikaa shared her confidence and body language, she also spoke about her goals at the Khelo India University Games 2021.
“We (Osmania University, Hyderabad) are here to win. It’s important for the University and for us to prove ourselves all the time because we have good competition here,” she concluded.
