Bangalore, April 30: Even as the likes of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes fight for glory at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships this year, there will be a young Indian earning glory for the country doing a job often termed tougher than the hard fought duels on the field.
Mysore lad Sagar Kashyap (22) will become the youngest Indian to officiate at the championship, to be held from June 21 to July 4 at the Winnman’s hill village.
While not many dream to reach great heights as umpires, the computer engineer from Vidya Vikas Engineering College in Mysore aspires to become one of the best. The resident of Gokulam in Mysore is not satisfied. “I want to reach the greatest heights as an official,” he told the Express.
He took up tennis at the age of 12 and went on to play at various national and international tournaments at the junior level. But he had to stop playing to concentrate on studies after school.
He then developed a passion for umpiring and started officiating in small tournaments in Mysore and Bangalore.
The passion of that youngster still shows as he speaks excitedly about the Federer-Nadal match which he officiated as the chair umpire at the Qatar Open this year.
The journey to the top started when he was invited to officiate as one of the line umpires at Federation Cup in Delhi around 5 years back. He later passed the International Tennis Federation Level-1 exams and officiated at the ATP Chennai Open, WTA Sunfeast Open and ATP Kingfisher Open. He then passed the ITF Level 2 exams and became the youngest White Badge Official in the country, making him eligible to officiate at the highest level.
The big break came when he was selected to officiate at the Wimbledon qualifiers last year and the ultimate dream came true when the British Lawn Tennis Association invited him to officiate in the main championship this year.
–Agencies–