BHUBANESWAR 02-Sep-2016
That academics and sports can complement each other proved true as leading Odisha tennis player Avilash Mishra got a 100 per cent academic scholarship from an US university in Chicago to study there and play tennis for two years.
Son of Bhubaneswar-based Manoj Kumar Mishra and Nirupama Rath, Avilash will leave for the USA on September 4 and join Prairie State College in Chicago the next day. He is the second tennis player from Odisha to get this opportunity, the first being Adarsh Sahoo, who has been pursuing a four-year degree course in computer science and playing tennis for the same college since last year.
Avilash has signed an agreement to play for the college for two years. He aims to play tennis for two more years in Division-I of NCAA (National College Athletic Association). Besides playing tennis, Avilash will do a four-year degree course in business administration.
Eighteen-year-old Avilash, who started playing tennis under tutelage of Subhranshu Sarangi, has won as many as 32 AITA (All India Tennis Association) titles in different age categories so far. For the past one year, he has been honing his skills in the academy of Farhan Ali.
The national ranking of Avilash has improved from 200 to 40 within last one year. He also achieved world ranking in under-18 age group, which assured him the scholarship in the USA. He matched his tennis talent equally in academics and with the support of SAI International School scored 94 per cent marks in Plus-Two commerce. In junior category, Avilash enjoys the number one ranking in the state in almost all events.
