Tennis player from the city Saketh Myneni, who made the country proud by winning the gold medal in mixed doubles along with Sania Mirza and won silver medals in mens double along with Sanam Singh in 17th Asian Games in 2014, was recommended for the Arjuna Award on Thursday. The 29-year-old Saketh Myneni is one of the 17 sportspersons selected by the award selection committee.Saketh also represented India in Davis Cup for three years and he also played in US Open in singles category in 2016.The current singles rank (world rank) of Saketh is 438 with 89 points and so far he has played seven tournaments, currently, Saketh is in China for the ATP Challenger Tour to improve his ranking.

Though Saketh was born in Vuyyuru town in Krishna district, he grew up in Visakhapatnam.

A resident of Pedawaltair area in the city, he took to the game at the age of 11 years and joined a tennis academy in the city.

Saketh was initially trained by coach PK Kishore and he took up the game seriously from his 13th year, though he had the choice of cricket, said Saketh’s father Prasad Myneni, who works at a corporate hospital in the city.

To develop as a good tennis player he moved to Hyderabad for advance training under coach Nagaraju. And his abilities were enhanced during his stint at the University of Alabama in USA, Mr. Prasad added.

According Mr. Prasad, though he is aware of Saketh name being recommended, he is yet to get any official communication.

"I am waiting for the final list," he said.