City’s Padmapriya among tennis team members

Mysuru: The Indian U-14 Girls Tennis Team comprising Mysuru’s Padmapriya Ramesh Kumar, Srishti Kiran (Karnataka) and Zoha Qureshi (Telangana) has qualified for the ITF World Juniors Tennis Tournament Finals 2026 to be held at Prostejov, Czech Republic, from  Aug. 3 to 8.

The team qualified for the world juniors after finishing fourth behind Japan (winners), South Korea (runners-up), China (second runners-up) in the recently held “ITF World Juniors Team Competitions Asia/Oceania – Final Qualifying Event – 2026” at Kuching, Malaysia, yesterday.

A total of 16 girls teams and 16 boys teams from Europe, North America, South/Central America, Africa & Asia – Oceania regions will participate in this Finals and compete for the Junior Championship title as professional players do in Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup.

The Indian Girls U-14 team has qualified for ITF World Juniors Tennis Tournament after a gap of 12 years. Indian girls last played this tournament in 2014.

It is a proud moment for Mysuru as Padmapriya Ramesh Kumar achieved this rare feat as part of the Indian team.  Daughter of Dr. P. Ramesh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests (Project Tiger), Mysuru and Dr. Malathi Priya, Chief Conservator of Forests (Chamarajanagar Circle), Padmapriya trains under Coach Raghuveer Ponnuswamy, Pawan and Sagar (fitness coach) in Mysuru. She is a Class 8 student at Excel Public School in city.