Indian team wins gold in World Railways championship

The Indian team won its league matches against Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to top the group. In the semifinals, India beat Germany 4-0.

The champion Indian Railways team in the World Railways tennis championship in Abena, Bulgaria. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Indian team beat France 3-1 in the final to clinch the gold medal in the World Railways tennis championship in Abena, Bulgaria.

The four-member team of PC Vignesh, Nitin Kumar Sinha, Prithvi Sekar and P Siddharth had Shiva Kumar Reddy as the coach. It was also accompanied by two officials, Anuj Kumar Tayal and Pawan Kumar.

“We are pleased to win the gold again”, said the most experienced player in the team, PC Vignesh.

Interestingly, Vignesh has been competing in the World Railways championship since 2007 and has four gold and a silver from five appearances.

“We got the silver in 2011”, he recalled.

The Indian team won its league matches against Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to top the group. In the semifinals, India beat Germany 4-0.

Except for the new member of the team, P Siddharth, the rest of the three players did not drop a match in the whole tournament, in which each tie was played on a four-singles format.

Prithvi Sekar will be joining the team in time to acclimatise well for the team event of the World Deaf tennis championship on clay in Greece, scheduled in the first week of October.

The results (final)

India bt France 3-1 (Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Ludwig Pellerin 6-3, 4-6, [12-10]; Prithvi Sekar bt Christophe Nguyen 4-6, 7-5, [10-8]; PC Vignesh bt Roman Zappa 6-1, 6-3; P Siddharth lost to Yann Boisset 6-1, 4-6, [5-10]).