Mysuru: Here is a hearing impaired person whose disability didn’t stop him from excelling in sports. Prashanth Dasharath Hamsabavi, a hearing impaired tennis player from Mysuru will represent India in the World Deaf Tennis Team championship, which is being held at Turkey from September 22. Prashanth who is representing the country for the third time is the only player from Karnataka to be part of five-member men’s Indian team.

Prashanth’s father Dasharath Hamsbavi, former Deputy Secretary of Mandya Zilla Panchayat, was very fond of tennis and used to take Prashanth when he used to go for practice. Prashanth, after seeing his father practising tennis got interested to take up the game. When he was just 12 years he started playing tennis and got enrolled at Mysore Tennis Club. Prashanth learnt most tennis skills by watching tennis matches on TV. When he was nearly two years old, he lost his hearing capability.

For the first time, Prashanth represented the country in the Deaflympics held at Sofia in 2013 and managed to secure fifth place. Later in 2014, he took part in the world deaf tennis championship and again managed the fifth position. For four years, that is from 2013 to 2016, he has been a part of Mysore team, which won state-level Dasara tennis tournament for four consecutive years. In 2016, representing the state at the 20th National Games, he emerged as runner-up in the men’s singles category.

Satish, elder brother of Prashanth said “He is very hardworking and I feel happy to see his dedication yield results. For the first time, the central government is taking care of all these players. Hope we get same recognition from state government who are also promoting many outstanding sportspersons,” he said. He also mentioned that Prashanth is also involved in training budding tennis players at Mysore Tennis Club.

Nagaraj, Senior tennis coach and veteran national tennis player who has also seen Prashanth very closely said that Prashanth is a strong person.