pune prarthana thombare still remembers the 70km ride to solapur she would undertake on the pillion of her fathers twowheeler every morning when she was barely in her teensthere was just one mud tennis court in her native town barshi and she wouldnt get enough time to play there because of other club members and kids after she won the school national under14 gold at the age of 10 her parents realised the need for an upgrade and decided to move to solapuri would wake up every day and go all the way with my father to play tennis and ride all the way back we did that for one and a half years said prarthana with a smile as she recalled her years of strugglebut that was then now in just over a fortnight the 22yearold will be partnering sania mirza the world no 1in womens doubles in the olympicsit has been an incredible journey one which has seen the lakshyabharat forgesupported player rise to 196 in world rankings in doubles she has three itf singles titles to her credit and 17 in doubles so far i was not aware of it at all she said when asked if she was aware of the global stars of the game during her early days for me it was a hobby and it was the only sport i played all my life coming from a small town i didnt have the best technique but my focus at that time was on fitness which helped me laterprarthana has grown as a player and by implication as an individual in the last two years she was a bronze medallist with mirza at the incheon asiad in 2014 more importantly she has reached 16 doubles finals at the 25000 level and won 12 of themshe credited her success to imran mirza sanias father who has been her coach since mid2014 imran uncle has changed my game completely earlier i used to be very defensive but now i am more aggressive she saidmy forehand has improved immensely as also my volleying overall i am more confident and able to match the speed of the big playersher world ranking is too low to partner mirza on the tour and get so partner mirza on the tour and get some matchpractice in the leadup to the games but she has been travelling in all earnest to far flung venues like puebla in mexico where she won a 25000 title and playing higherlevel tournaments this yearyet olympics is going to be a huge step she will up against the likes of williams sisters the powerhitting russians not to forget the chinese and expectations of a medal would be an unfair burden playing in olympics is a dreamcometrue i am ready to face the responsibility she said with a confidence that belies her smalltown background the barshi girl has indeed come a long way