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Former junior Indian tennis star Tanvi Bhat passes away in Dubai

Dubai - Former state champion from Kerala was pursuing her studies in Dubai

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Former junior Indian tennis star Tanvi Bhat passed away in Dubai on Sunday, according to Indian media reports. She was 21.

Indian media reported that the last rites were held on Wednesday.

Tanvi, a former Kerala tennis champion, had been pursuing a degree in Psychology and English in Dubai. She is survived by her father Dr Sanjay Bhat, mother Lilan and brother Adithya, who also represented the Indian state in tennis.

When Khaleej Times tried contacting Bhat’s family in India, they politely declined to comment, urging privacy at this difficult time for them.

As a 12-year-old, Tanvi had won the Under-14 girls title at the Asian Series in Doha in 2012, but a slew of injuries cut short her career. Tanvi had suffered an ACL injury and had to undergo surgery twice when she was 14 and 15. She also underwent surgery for a spine is sue when she was 17 and decided to retire from the sport.

She had previously trained at the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy at Kochi’s Regional Sports Centre.

“Rafa (Rafael Nadal), was her hero,” her mother Lilan was quoted as saying by Indian sports magazine Sportstar, on Wednesday.

“She was boisterous, had abundant energy...she used to play tennis for four hours every day and was then at the football ground playing with boys, racing against time, living her life for 21 years.

“We had all moved to Dubai and she started playing for her college and even went to Abu Dhabi once to play at the university level,” she added.

james@khaleejtimes.com

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