After a brilliant begin, when it beat Thailand and Uzbekistan, the Indian workforce couldn’t discover its well past China and Japan within the Billie Jean King Cup girls’s tennis occasion in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It needed to keep content material within the Asia-Oceania group-1.
“After qualifying to group-1 in 2015, the girls have done a tremendous job over the years to sustain the level and stay in the top group. We did make it to the World Group play-off two years ago”, noticed the captain of the workforce, Shalini Thakur Chawla.
There was not a lot at stake within the final tie towards Korea, within the round-robin format, however India held the fortunes of groups each for qualification and relegation.
Shalini counseled Ankita Raina and the workforce for placing up a high quality efficiency and competing exhausting towards sturdy opponents.
“On the last day, we were safe. But it was not the case for Korea. A win would put them in the World Group play-off and a loss against us could mean relegation”, identified Shalini, on the drama of the final day.
China had underestimated Korea and had rested its important gamers Xinyu Wang and Yue Yuan for singles. Dayeon Back and Kim Dabin received the singles matches for Korea towards China.
As luck would have it, Korea misplaced to Thailand. After being tied with the identical variety of wins, Korea received previous China, by advantage of getting overwhelmed it.
“On the last day, it rained all morning. There was only one indoor court, and we played Korea on that. We decided to rest Ankita who had played her heart out in all the matches and give Vaidehi Chaudhari a chance. Vaidehi did well to fight back from 0-5 to 4-5 in the third set. Rutuja Bhosale made it 1-1, and we couldn’t pull it off in doubles”, mentioned Shalni.
Japan was too sturdy for all of the groups and dropped just one match out of 14.
“Against Moyuka Uchijima, Ankita was 3-1 in the third set and had a point for 4-1”, recalled the captain, as she praised Ankita for her ardour to combat her greatest for the nation for ten years.
“Our players are up there and match opponents stroke for stroke. They need a little more belief and consistency in the quality of the game. The top players don’t give an inch away on the crucial points. They play solid and stick to the basics”, mentioned Shalini.
For Vaidehi, Sahaja Yamalapalli and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty it was a great expertise, getting a style of competing towards a number of the greatest gamers of the area.
“All the girls are disciplined and have good work ethic. I was the captain sitting on the chair, but Radhika Tulpule Kanitkar as the coach played her part very well. The physio Ajeeta Goel was very hard working and extremely dedicated’’, said Shalini, quite appreciative of the faith placed on the squad by the All India Tennis Association (AITA).
Can India qualify for the World group play-off next year.
“We can. A lot depends on the given day. We need to convert our chances and play consistently good quality tennis. The girls are getting better”, opined Shalini.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com