Rohan Bopanna became only the fourth Indian to win a Grand Slam on Thursday. (Source: File)
The All India Tennis Association has announced that it will recommend Rohan Bopanna for this year’s Arjuna Award. The development comes after Bopanna won the French Open in the mixed doubles category with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski.
PTI quotes AITA Secretary General Hironmoy Chatterjee as saying that it will recommend Bopanna’s name for the Arjuna award on Friday. “We have recommended his name several times in the past but the previous committees did not give him the award. Now he deserves this honour. He should be given the award this time,” he said.
The deadline for sending the application, though, has expired but Chatterjee said that the Association will still try to do it. “It can be done,” he said. Bopanna is only the fourth Indian after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza to win a Grand Slam. The AITA had commended him for the win earlier. This is a well-deserved victory. We wish him more success in the years to come. His victory will certainly be a morale booster for young and budding tennis players in the country,” said AITA in a release.
Rohan Bopanna, alongwith his partner Gabriela Dabrowski, beat Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Gronefeld 6-0, 6-1 to lift the title at Roland Garros. Dabrowski is also the first Canadian woman to win a Grand Slam. He had previously come to close to winning a Major title in 2010 when he reached the final of the US Open with Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi. The pair eventually lost to the Bryan brothers.
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