Two men from Serampore, a town in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, are set to travel to London to umpire at the prestigious Wimbledon Championship. On June 20, Saikat Roy and Somnath Manna will head to London to take on the responsibility of line umpires at the prestigious lawn tennis tournament. The Wimbledon Championship is one of the most popular tournaments among sports lovers from around the globe. Top players from around the world such as Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams have played in the prestigious tournament. This year, Saikat and Somnath will travel to London to officiate the matches.
Saikat Roy is a resident of the Mahesh area of Serampore. He has been umpiring at various lawn tennis competitions for over ten years. Saikat initially started his journey of officiating lawn tennis matches to manage his personal expenses. In 1998, popular Wimbledon referee Gerry Armstrong visited Kolkata for a competition event. Saikat met with him at the event, where Mr Gerry Armstrong advised him to pursue umpiring. Later from the inspiration of Mr Armstrong, he decided to take lawn tennis officiating as a profession. Around a decade later, he received a sudden invitation to join Wimbledon as a line umpire in London. Starting from the year 2010, Saikat never had to look back as he continued to officiate matches at various Grand Slam tennis championships
Similarly, Somnath Manna, a resident of Serampore, has also been serving as a line umpire at Wimbledon since the year 2011. He will also leave for London on June 20.
This year Wimbledon is set to start on July 1 and will continue till July 14. It is a moment of pride for all residents of the Serampore as Saikat and Somnath are all set to officiate matches that will be played by some famous tennis players from around the world.
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