Mission 2018
The quest to create an Indian Grand Slam singles title winner led to the launch of the Apollo Mission 2018 on May 23, 2007 by the Apollo Tyres Limited. The idea was to select the best young tennis talents in the country and give them world-class training – mentally and physically - under one roof to ensure that they could bridge the gap between potential champions and champions. The training and grooming of the selected candidates will be under the guidance of India’s tennis Ace Mahesh Bhupathi, who is the brand ambassador consultant for the project.
In the first year of the initiative, Apollo Tyres Ltd held four tennis clinics – in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata and the national finals in New Delhi. About 4000 children in the ages of five to 14 were assessed in the two-month long process in the winter months of November and December.
The panel of judges consisted of tennis stalwarts like Mahesh Bhupathi, his father and coach C G K Bhupathi, former India No. 1 and Davis Cupper Prahlad Srinath, India’s Davis Cup coach and Arjuna Awardee Sandeep Kirtane, international physical trainer Heath Mathews and eminent physiotherapist Tony Beecroft.
Thirty-two children made it to the national finals in New Delhi of which 15 were finally inducted in the Foundation for Indian Sporting Talent (FIST) Academy tennis programme under the aegis of the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy in Bangalore. The other 17 children were awarded a two-week scholarship at the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy.
Apart from training at the academy by top notch coaches and trainers, the selected 15 will also will play select tournaments in India and abroad to gain valuable match experience.
In the first year of Mission 2018, 15 talented youngsters, of which seven are girls, were enrolled into the programme that started in April 2008. The youngest member of this group is five-year-old Rohan Mehra, while Saurabh Singh at 14 is the eldest.
Following is a list of the selected 15:
1. Spoorti Shivalingaiah (12)
2. Sansitha Nandakumar (12)
3. Dhruti Venugopal (10)
4. Nandini Das (8)
5. Romil Kamdar (9)
6. Rohan Bhatia (12)
7. Sneha Reddy (10)
8. Md Azhar (12)
9. Seeulee Upadhyaya (11)
10. S M Abdullah (12)
11. Rohan Mehra (5+)
12. Sumit Nagal (10)
13. Simran Kaur Sethi (11)
14. Jennifer Luikham (8)
15. Saurabh Singh (14)
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