Former junior Indian tennis star Tanvi Bhat 21, passed away in Dubai on Sunday.
According to reports, 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.
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. She 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 Sportstar, on Wednesday.
“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.