She’s French, has Indian roots and on the Paris Olympics, six months away, she’ll be ranked increased than every other feminine desk tennis participant from the nation of her beginning and ancestry.
No marvel, then, that 19-year-old Prithika Pavade is making heads flip in each the international locations.
Prithika’s father, who was born and raised in Puducherry, migrated to Paris after getting married. Prithika was born within the French capital and this summer time, will get a r are alternative to compete in an Olympics at house. On Friday, she gave a glimpse into what she’s able to.
Presently ranked thirty third on this planet and primary in France, Prithika fought again after being two video games and a match level down within the third to beat South Korea’s Ryu Hanna Sept. 11, Sept. 11, 10-12, 7-11, 3-11 and arrange a Spherical of 16 conflict with one other Korean paddler, Nayeong Kim.
Within the desk tennis circuit, it’s fairly widespread to see gamers of Chinese language origin play for prime European international locations. Prithika’s compatriot, 38-year-old Jia Nan Yuan, who not too long ago received the European High 16 Cup and the 2022 combined doubles European Championship, additionally realized her sport in China earlier than shifting to France on the age of 18. Even USA’s top-ranked gamers Amy Wang and Lily Zhang have Chinese language heritage.
France’s Prithika Pavade in motion throughout her ladies’s singles spherical of 32 conflict on the WTT Star Contender Goa 2024 on the Peddem Indoor Stadium in Mapusa, Goa on Friday.
Seeing an Indian among the many prime ladies’s gamers although is a rarity. Sarcastically, she is ranked 5 spots increased than India’s Manika Batra.
Prithika even admits that she’s been requested about switching allegiances to India however she dismisses it on the supply. “I used to be born in France. I’ve lived there all my life. In fact, India will all the time have a particular place in my coronary heart, however I’ve learnt the game in France,” she says.
Although she realized and mastered the game in France, her Indian roots performed an enormous position in her taking to the game.
Her dad was a TT participant and having performed the game at a regional stage, he first inspired Prithika to check out the game when she was simply six years outdated.
“My father wasn’t a national-level participant, however he nonetheless had good expertise. After I was six, he took me to a gymnasium that was about two minutes from our residence. There was a desk there and I loved enjoying,” she says, including that although her dad would have preferred to teach the game, he works the night time shift at a resort to assist her household, making it virtually not possible for him to grow to be extra concerned with the game.
“My dad was certainly the one who selected desk tennis for me however he by no means pressured me to stay to it. In a while, it turned my alternative as a result of I simply fell in love with the game,” Prithika, who’s in her first 12 months of college learning Chemistry and environmental science, says.
“I didn’t take the game critically at first and it was solely after I received the U-14 French Championships that I realised it was one thing I wished to do,” she says.
And he or she appears to be doing it fairly properly. On the age of 16, she received the European U-21 Championships and the identical 12 months, turned one of many youngest-ever French gamers to qualify for the Olympics when she made the minimize for the delayed Tokyo Video games which was held in 2021. “That was most likely the best second of my life,” she says.
She confirmed that making it to the Olympics as a 16-year-old wasn’t only a one-off when she turned the senior French nationwide champion in 2022.
At her first Olympics, she was simply completely happy to be there. This time round, there’s much more strain.
Whereas a singles medal would possibly look like an uphill process in the intervening time, she has fashioned a formidable combined doubles partnership with fellow teenager, 17-year-old Felix Lebrun, who’s ranked eighth on this planet. They pose a sensible menace to Chinese language dominance and are seen as France’s greatest hopes for an Olympic medal in TT.
Understandably, Prithika can’t look forward to the house Video games to get underway. “It’s the most important occasion in virtually each sport. I believe our era could be very fortunate as a result of it’s loopy to have the Olympics at house. My first college and my first membership in the identical metropolis. I can be somewhat nervous, however an important factor is to benefit from the second,” she says.