Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

Young tennis star from Kashmir Erin Mir clinched another feat by winning her first under-16 All India Ranking Championship series nationals at Dwarka in Delhi. This feat comes after she won four consecutive nationals in the last month.

Erin, from Srinagar in Kashmir, has won two national championships series under 12 and 14 on the same day in the last week of November 2024 in Gurgram. She has also bagged an under-14 national championship series in the first week of November in Delhi. She is the first girl from Jammu and Kashmir to break into the Top-20 All India Tennis Association Rankings, ranked at 27.  

Having shown interest in sports at the age of four, Erin was fascinated by Tennis as she watched the game on Television with her father. However, her father a senior officer in the central government knew she was too young to go for a heavy sport.

Erin Mir with her State level awards and trophy

However, he no longer could ignore the zeal for tennis in his only child. He decided to let Erin go the whole hog into the sports of her choice.

Her father (name withheld on request), also a sports enthusiast, wanted his girl to go for sports as he watched her “excel in the sports activities” right from the age of four years.

Erin’s father was a sports enthusiast. As little Erin watched him cheer up for sportspersons on TV, she too got interested.

“She excelled from the age of only four years.... as she used to jump around with a keen interest in gymnastics, watching from the TV”, her father told Awaz-the Voice.

He added that while in Mumbai Erin had “too much energy” and was a “little more active in tennis”, necessitating proper coaching in this sport.

Although it was not so difficult to have access to any of the sports academies for her coaching, Erin was too young to go for training. She, however, was introduced to the basics of the sport regularly for two years up to the age of six years.

Erin Mir with her Coach Vinod Kumar

However, her craving for tennis did not end for the next two years, when the family shifted to Jammu during the Covid period.

With immense support from the family, Erin was moved to Delhi where she has been getting training from the distinguished tennis coach Vinod Kumar.

Within three years, 11-year-old Erin has made her mark as she has clinched the nationals.  She began her professional training in March 2022 under Vinod Kumar, the head coach at Delhi Lawn Tennis Academy.

Erin also practiced and trained at the Ballpark Tennis Academy in Gurugram, Haryana.

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Erin is accompanied by her mother to Gurugram Academy while she comes to Delhi for training under Vinod Kumar.

While she spends most of her time in training, Erin is also good at her studies. The fifth-standard student says she aims to excel not only at the national level but beyond in her chosen sport.