Tennis coach defeats trainee to clinch title

Chandigarh, February 10

The men’s category final of the CLTA-AITA National Ranking Tennis Championship was special for both finalists — 26-year-old Paramveer Bajwa and 16-year-old Arjun Rathi — as a coach was up against his trainee.

Bajwa, who was playing at the CLTA complex after a gap of almost six years, prevailed over his trainee 6-3 6-3 to win the title. A two-time former India U-16 champion, Bajwa is working as a Hitting Coach at Roundglass Punjab Tennis Academy, where he also trains Rathi. The Patiala lad is a former India No.1 in U-14, U-16 and U-18 and has represented India in the Junior Davis Cup. He played in the Europe Circuit for five years and later stopped playing tennis following financial crunch. It was after a suggestion of a former journalist and now one of the administrators of the academy, Bajwa participated in this event.

“A lot of my trainees were cheering from the stands and I wanted to win the title to set an example as a coach. He (Arjun) played well,” said Bajwa. Rathi, who hails from Rohtak, is one of the 15 tennis trainees selected for a full scholarship by academy last year. Bajwa had become the Asian U-14 singles and doubles champion in 2012, and won the U-16 national title in 2013. Two years later, Bajwa defended his U-16 title and captained the junior Davis Cup team. He also coached in Portugal in 2019 before joining the academy.

Interestingly, Rathi’s sister Anjali Rathi won the women’s title by defeating Maharashtra’s Ishwari Anant Matere 6-0 6-3.