Lack of money crashes 13 Years Old Tennis Ace Ronit’s journey to Australia!

Ronit Bisht

NEW DELHI: For every success story in Indian sport, there is another, dismal tale of deprivation and toil. When it’s a sport like tennis, which 

needs aspiring stars to not only be rich in talent but also in resources, such examples are abound.

Take the case of Delhi’s 13-year-old Ronit Bisht, whose dream to play in a Grand Slam tournament has been unfortunately put on hold.

Bisht had to withdraw from the Australian Open juniors qualifying event as his family wasn’t able to arrange the necessary funds, of around Rs 1 lakh, for his travel and stay in Melbourne.

Ronit’s father, Rajender Bisht, a clerk with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), found it beyond his means to arrange the money and his call for help from different quarters also yielded little result.

“Ronit has been performing very well on the juniors circuit. Since he was winning the majority of tournaments in his age-group, he started playing with higher ups, in the under-18 category. The ITF allows each kid to play only ten tournaments before they turn 14. We wanted Ronit to play at the Australian Open before his 14th birthday in April.

That’s why he has not competed since his participation at the ITF event in Gurgaon in December,” said his father. The rankings bear testimony to Bisht’s precocious talent.

He tops the latest U-14 and U-16 AITA rankings and was a creditable fourth in the U-18 ranks as of Dec 21. He is also the youngest in the top 150 (138th) in the ITF rankings for juniors (as on 11 Jan).

Bisht has participated in nine ITF junior tournaments and has won two singles and three doubles, apart from being runners-up in one, and last-four finishes in some others. He was also a part of the Indian team that won bronze at the World Junior Cup in 2008.

Bisht trains at the Siri Fort complex with his brother, Rohit Bisht, who is also an U-18 player, under Aditya Sachdeva, Yuki Bhambri’s coach. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which identified the pair, has released an order for the kid to be trained without charge.

Bisht also moved school to Amity International on a promise of continued financial support. A member of the now-scrapped Mission 2018 project, Bisht earned rich praise from the likes of Mahesh Bhupathi.

Ronit will now be focussing hard on training as there are no major ITF events in India in the near future. He is hoping for a helping hand so that he doesn’t have to go through the pain of having to miss a big tournament.

He tops the latest U-14 and U-16 AITA rankings and was a creditable fourth in the U-18 ranks as of Dec 21. He is also the youngest in the top 150 (138th) in the ITF rankings for juniors (as on 11 Jan).

Contact :

 His Coach : Mr.Aditya Sachdeva

J – 219, Lane W / 15
Western Avenue, Sainik Farms
New Delhi – 110062, India
Phone :+91 11  651 75384
Fax :  +91 11  2955 4316

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