CHENNAI: With most eyes focussed on the Fed Cup World Group matches, India quietly grabbed fifth spot in the Zone Group I Asia/Oceania playoffs in Hua Hin, Thailand, on Saturday. Threatened with relegation after losses against the hosts and Japan, the Blues blew past Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to end on a high.
Although impressed with the way Ankita Raina, Prerna Bhambri, Prarthana Thombare and doubles World No 1 Sania Mirza combined, captain Zeeshan Ali chose to put things in perspective in his first outing. India being the lowest-ranked team, he knew it was unrealistic to think about qualifying for the World Group II playoffs.
“It was probably the first time the top eight teams from Asia played in Group I, so ours hands were full. But the goal was to survive instead of getting relegated once again... we achieved that,” he told Express.
Needing to beat Uzbekistan by a 3-0 margin to not play the relegation tie, they did that and more, acing the 5th-6th playoff versus Kazakhstan. “The Kazakhs have three players in the top 100, but they utilised one without a ranking (Galina Voskoboeva), the other (No 83 Yaroslava Shvedova) pulled out after one set and the doubles wasn’t played. A soft victory on paper maybe, not on court,” Ali added.
While Sania suffered a rare loss, her first since August last year, India’s highest-ranked player Ankita, reached a high-point, thrashing No 56 Naa Hibino 6-3, 6-1 in the ill-fated tie against overall winners Japan. Everyone believes they belong, but to actually follow through was a fantastic feeling.
“I’m happy with the energy that I showed on court. I need to get stronger, so I’m already working on increasing the speed of my groundstrokes and serve,” the 307-ranked player opined.
There’s no more Fed Cup action for India this year, but the performance is bound to inspire the players, as they (barring Sania) tackle the South Asian Games next.
Results: Round robin: India 0-3 Thailand; India 1-2 Japan; India 3-0 Uzbekistan. 5th-6th playoff: India 3-0 Kazakhstan.