An employee of a Western Railway (WR) and a former tennis player was one amongst the four Indians to officiate at this year’s Wimbledon.
Nitin Kannamwar, 47, office superintendent at Churchgate railway station officiated the women’s singles final and men’s single semifinal at All England Lawn Tennis Club. “I served as a linesman in the women’s single final match featuring Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova and assisted the chair umpire in the semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray,” said Kannamwar after returning to India on Monday.
This is not the first time Kannamwar officiated at Wimbledon. In 2003, he became the first Indian to officiate men’s singles final between Mark Phillippousis and Roger Federer.
Tennis has always been a passion for Kannamwar. He has, in the past, achieved No 9 ranking in India and No 1 ranking in Maharashtra. Apart from Wimbledon, Kannamwar has officiated in all other Grand Slams, apart from Davis Cup, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
Kannamwar is an achiever of the gold badge as a referee of the International Tennis Federation. However, he wishes to excel and make the country proud. “I have a bronze in the chair umpire category and a silver badge in the chief umpire category. I wish to be promoted as gold badge holder in these categories,” he said.
“It was my first final as a chair umpire at an international venue. I was tense as the match was between Andre Agassi and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. However, things went rather smoothly,” said Kannamwar, when asked which his most memorable match was.
