City orthopaedic ace is Davis Cup team doctor
Hyderabad’s strength on the depleted Indian Davis Cup team rose to two on Monday with the All India Tennis Association naming Nithin Kumar B. as the team doctor. The specialist in sports injury and arthroscopic surgery is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Yashoda Hospitals. Veteran S. P. Misra has been carrying the city flag on the national side as its non-playing captain for quite a while.
Dr Nithin will replace Dr Vece Paes (Leander’s father) after the Aita eased him out owing to a demand from rebel players.
A passionate tennis player himself — he played the nationals on the junior circuit in 1992 — Dr Nithin is understandably excited to contribute to the sport. “It would be a pleasure to work with the national tennis team. I am certain my sports and medical background will stand me in good stead,” the beaming 36-year-old told this newspaper on Monday.
For the record, Dr Nithin has also captained the Manipal University cricket team in 2001 and even played a league in the United Kingdom where he lived for 11 years before heading home last year. The cricket connection grew deeper when Nithin worked with UK’s renowned doctors Andrew Wallace and Andy Williams, considered experts in curing knee and shoulder injuries. “Dr Wallace has treated Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid for various injuries and I was fortunate to work under him in the UK,” Dr Nithin says.
“Tennis is just a start. I would like to branch out to cricket as well and probably change the way sports injuries are treated these days,” he says, adding “the careers of half the players are cut short because of injuries.”
Dr Nithin puts it down to amateurish approach. “Currently there are personnel who do a bit of preventive as well as therapeutic medicine. To combine both is the job of a pro. That is what a sports surgeon can do. We need specialists to care of our sportspersons,” he says.