Reeth Rishya is an Indian table tennis player who has won several medals in various national and international competitions. She is considered an aggressive player and has trained at different academies in Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. She is the first Indian woman player to win gold in a pro table tennis tournament in the singles category.
Wiki/Biography
Reeth Rishya Tennison was born on Thursday, 27 April 1995 (age 27 years; as of 2022) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her zodiac sign is Taurus. She studied at St. Joseph’s Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, Perambur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kaligi Ranganathan Montford MHSS, Perambur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She gained interest in table tennis due to her father as he was also a table tennis player. She trained at Maharishi Vidya Mandir Club under the coach V.M. Ravi Venkatesh, V. Vasu, Ramesh Babu, and Bharath. She attended M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai for graduation.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 2″
Weight (approx.): 55 kg
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown
Family
Parents & Siblings
Her father’s name is Susairaj Tennison, and her mother’s name is Jennifer. Her father was a district-level table tennis player, and her mother is a housewife. She has a brother named Adrian Anish, who is an entrepreneur.
Reeth Rishya’s father, Susairaj Tennison, Reeth Rishya, and Reeth Rishya’s mother, Jennifer (left to right)
Reeth Rishya’s brother, Adrian Anish
Husband & Children
She married fellow Indian table tennis player Sanil Shetty of Mumbai, Maharashtra on 23 December 2018. They knew each other since the early 2010s as both of them played at various competitions and were friends for a long time. Sanil proposed to her during one of the training camps and after a brief relationship, they got married in Mumbai. As of 2022, the couple does not have any children.
Reeth Rishya with her husband Sanil Shetty
Religion/Religious Views
She follows Christianity.
Career
Reeth participated in district-level tournaments from 2008 onwards and participated in the 2009 Taiyuan International Junior & Cadet Open. She won many state-level ranking tournaments in 2010. In 2011, she competed in US Open, the 2011 French Junior & Cadet Open, and the 2011 Spanish Junior & Cadet Open tournaments, and represented India in the 2011 World Junior Table Tennis Championships held in Bahrain. She participated in the 2012 Spanish Junior & Cadet Open, 2012 Slovak Junior Open, and 2012 World Junior Table Tennis Championships held in Hyderabad, India. In 2013, she competed in the 2013 Polish Junior & Cadet Open, the 2013 Slovak Junior Open, the 2013 Indian Junior & Cadet Open, and the 2013 ITTF World Junior Table Tennis Championships held in Rabat, Morocco. In 2015, she participated in the Austrian Open (Major) and Belgium Open (Challenge). In 2016, she participated in the Asarel Bulgaria Open (Major) and Czech Open (Major). In 2017, she competed in Nigeria Open. After her marriage, she represented Mumbai or Maharashtra in tournaments and started training at AV Sports Center Academy in Hyderabad under coach Aman Balgu and Vighnay Reddy. She participated in the 2020 ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open held in Muscat and the 2021 WTT Middle East Hub. She won the 2021 ITTF Ecuador International Open held in Ecuador. She competed in the 2022 WTT Contender Zagreb and the 2022 WTT Feeder Olomouc. In 2022, she represented India in the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Reeth Rishya (left) with her coach Aman Balgu
Medals
Gold
- 2015: National Ranking Table Tennis Championships (South Zone) – Youth Girls Singles category
- 2017: Tamil Nadu table tennis state championship – Women’s Singles category
- 2021: Ecuador International Open – Women’s Singles category
Reeth Rishya after winning gold in the Ecuador International Open
- 2021: Dr Ramesh Prabhoo Memorial 82nd Maharashtra State Table Tennis tournament – Women’s Singles category
Silver
- 2009: Indian Junior & Cadet Open – Cadet Girls Doubles category
- 2009: Indian Junior & Cadet Open – Cadet Girls Singles category
- 2010: Global Cadet Challenge & Global Junior Circuit Finals – Cadet Girls Singles category
- 2013: Indian Junior & Cadet Open – Junior Girls Doubles category
- 2015: All India Public Sector Table Tennis Team Tournament – Women’s Singles category
- 2015: All India Public Sector Table Tennis Team Tournament – Women’s Team category
- 2016: National Ranking Table Tennis Championship (East Zone) – Women’s Singles category
- 2018: All India Public Sector Table Tennis Tournament – Women’s Team category
- 2019: 49th All India Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championship – Mixed Doubles category
- 2021: Ecuador International Open – Women’s Doubles category
- 2021: 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championships – Women’s Singles category
- 2022: 36th National Games – Women’s Team category
Reeth Rishya (second from left) in 36th National Games
Bronze
- 2011: Indian Junior & Cadet Open – Junior Girls Doubles category
- 2016: National Ranking Table Tennis Championship (Central Zone) – Women’s Singles category
- 2017: 78th Senior National Table Tennis Championships – Mixed Doubles category
- 2017: 78th Senior National Table Tennis Championships – Women’s Team category
- 2018: 79th Senior National And Interstate Table Tennis Championship – Mixed Doubles category
- 2021: Ecuador International Open – Mixed Doubles category
- 2022: 36th National Games – Women’s Doubles category
Facts/Trivia
- She won gold in the singles category of the Ecuador International Open 2022 and thus became the first woman to win gold in the Women’s Singles category in a professional table tennis tournament.
- She was picked for the team Tapti Tigers in the Gujarat State League Table Tennis Tournament in its first edition in 2022; however, she could not play due to the death of her father-in-law.
Breaking News:
This is to inform you all that Swatiska Ghosh is replacing Reeth Rishya and will play for Tapti Tigers. Its because of sudden demise of Reeth Rishya’s father-in-law she won’t be able to play in GSL Table Tennis League. pic.twitter.com/UPb2jTmrAA
— Tapti Tigers (@Tapti_Tigers) August 14, 2022
- She is a pet lover and has rescued stray dogs and sold them for adoption.
- She has multiple tattoos including on her left forearm and left thigh.
A tattoo of Reeth Rishya
- She was ranked number 1 in the rankings released by the Table Tennis Federation of India on 1 May 2022.
- She is employed by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as a tenure-based sportsperson, SRO.
- She was the highest-paid woman player in the 2017 edition of the Table Tennis Super League – Tamil Nadu and was picked for Rs40,500.
- In her first Commonwealth Games in 2022 held in Birmingham, she lost in the round of 16 to Singapore’s Feng Tw in the women’s singles category. She lost in the quarterfinal of the women’s doubles event and the women’s team event.