Teertha Iska and Akshara Iska
Training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, the Iska sisters dream of making it big one day.
Teertha Iska and Akshara Iska, better known as the ‘Iska sisters’, are the siblings who have been impressive on the National Junior Tennis Circuit of late. Playing in the 4th Ramesh Desai Memorial National Tennis Championships in the city, top seed Teertha lost in the U-16 final to Tahira Bhatti 6-2 6-4. Akshara on the other hand bowed out in the quarters but was victorious in the U-14 doubles event of the recently concluded Leo Tennis Academy Maharashtra state ranking tournament.
What’s more, both the Andhra girls are currently training at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida, USA and aspire to play tennis at the highest level. So do they also dream of representing India one day?
India On Mind
“Of Course we want to play for India. There are no two ways about it,” says Akshara before adding, “We are Indians. The only reason we decided to go to the USA is for our education and training.”
Along with major junior European tournaments they are also participating in Indian competitions like the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the Super Series meets.
“We want them to represent India so we keep coming here to take part in the tournaments or else they may not be eligible to represent the country,” says Iskas’ mother.
The only thing that slightly bothers the duo is the kind of travelling they have to undertake in order to improve their rankings. “Since the past eight months we have been playing continuously. But we know that training wise we will do better in the US. They instruct us clearly on everything, from learning the finer skills to keeping a proper diet,” said Teertha who recently returned from China after competing in the ITF World Asian Championship.
The travelling also becomes a burden for their mother who has to choose any one daughter to travel with at a given time. “When Teertha is playing in one place, Akshara is playing somewhere else. This makes it difficult for me as I can accompany only one of them,” she says.
Tags: AITA, Akshara Iska, All India Tennis Association, India, Indian Sports, Iska Sisters, Nick Bollettieri Academy, Sports, Sports India, Super Series Tennis, Teertha Iska, Tennis
