Wimbledon greens beckon Chandigarh-girl Prinkle Singh - Hindustan Times
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Wimbledon greens beckon Chandigarh-girl Prinkle Singh

Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh
Apr 20, 2015 11:49 AM IST

The last six months have been a dream run for Prinkle Singh. The 14-year-old tennis player, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, and trains at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) has been on a roll.

The last six months have been a dream run for Prinkle Singh. The 14-year-old tennis player, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, and trains at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) has been on a roll. The titles have just kept coming and Prinkle has made the most of the purple patch. The latest being her qualification to the Road to Wimbledon (RTW) world finals to be held in hallowed grass courts in London in August later this year. In between her second position in the AITA under-14 rankings and her strong showing all through the year has helped her make it to the Indian team for the World Junior Championship (WJC) along with Mahak Jain (AITA top seed in U-14) and Shivani Amineni.

Prinkle-Singh
Prinkle-Singh

“I have been working hard and I am glad that the results paid off,” Prinkle said, who is student of Class 9 in Ashiana Public School, Sector 46.

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In fact, so dominating was Prinkle in RTW that she topped the charts with maximum 225 points from the three legs out of four. She missed Mumbai leg but won Kolkata, Chandigarh and Delhi leg to collect 75 points each.

“She twisted her ankle in the RTW final which affected her game. But otherwise she worked a lot since last year and it has paid off. We are elated and hope she does country proud in London,” her mother Baljeet Kaur said.

“I am doing more of fitness training and normal practice to give time for my injury to heal. My immediate focus is on the WJC in Bangkok starting on April 27,” Prinkle said, who counts Maria Sharapova as her favourite player.

In March this year, she played in the ITF Asia 14 & under Development Championships— Division 1 at Bangkok where she was a semifinalist in first week and reached quarterfinals in the second week of the tournament.

Prinkle journey started a decade ago when the family shifted to Chandigarh because of job of her father Mohinder Singh, who is an architect.

“She first picked up the racquet at the age of four in mini-tennis and by seven she was a regular on court. Prinkle and her brother’s Sumit Pal Singh initiation into the game started here,” her mother said, adding, “The results have been heartening for us to say the least. Both my children are doing well and I am one proud mother.”

Sumit is ranked eighth in the AITA boys’ under-16 rankings and is a student of Class 10 in Ashiana Public School-46. So far Prinkle has been able to balance studies and tennis with help from her parents and school.

“The school and teachers are very helpful and encourage her. I make it a point to copy her lessons and we carry books around on our travel. She manages to squeeze in an hour daily for her studies and she picks up very fast,” Prinkle’s mother said.

Besides WJC in Bangkok, Prinkle will also be participating in the tennis nationals slated to be held in Mumbai.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Ashutosh Sharma is based in Chandigarh and has been a sports journalist for over a decade. He mainly writes on cricket.

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