San Ramon sibling racquetball players headed to World Championships

San Ramon siblings are among three young racquetball players who train at ClubSport Pleasanton that have qualified to represent Team USA in the Junior World Championships in Mexico this fall.

The gold medal performances by Nikita Chauhan, Vedant Chauhan and Nikhil Prasad were part of a ClubSport Pleasanton contingent of 14 players that earned a variety of medals at the National Junior Olympics Championships last month in Minneapolis, Minn.

Nikita Chauhan, 14, of San Ramon, won gold medals in singles and doubles in the girls’ 14-and-under division. Her 12-year-old brother, Vedant, took home gold in doubles and silver in singles for boys’ 12-and-under.

Nikhil Prasad, an 11-year-old from Fremont, won gold medals in the boys’ 10-and-under division for singles and doubles in Minnesota.

“Nikhil is new to the World Championships and is very excited to have won a spot on the USA team,” said Elaine Dexter, head coach and director of the racquetball program at ClubSport Pleasanton.

“Vedant and Nikita have been to the World Championships before, playing last year in the Dominican Republic and Cali, Colombia in 2014. And although they know what to expect, it’s still a tremendous honor and very exciting,” Dexter added.

The trio are now set to compete against many of the world’s best young racquetball players in October during the World Championships in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

Other ClubSport Pleasanton players posted high finishes at the junior nationals last month.

Eight-year-old Eshan Ali took first in boys’ singles and boys’ multi-bounce singles. He could not qualify for Team USA because he is younger than 10 years old.

Sonya Shetty, 10, placed second in girls’ doubles and third in girls’ singles and mixed doubles. Julian Singh, 16, earned a second-place finish in boys’ doubles.

Ethan Tu, 12, took third place in mixed doubles and boys’ consolation doubles. Aidan Tu, 14, was fourth in boys’ doubles and mixed doubles.

Other local participants were Esha Cyril, Arya Cyril, Akhhill Durai, Bobby Singh, Anaiah Singh and Taij Singh.

“Several of our players attending the junior nationals in Minneapolis this year were first-time national tournament participants,” Dexter said. “For them to finish as highly as they did speaks volumes about our club and our racquetball program.”