CHENNAI: With the Fed Cup tie locked at 1-1, the Indian team needed to beat the Philippines in the doubles rubber on Friday to avoid contesting a relegation playoff.
Ankita Raina, who lost her singles match, and Karman Kaur Thandi, who won hers, combined well enough to quell their rivals’ charge. Thus, for a second year running, India finished fifth in the Zone Group I Asia/Oceania Playoffs in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Aside from that 2-1 win, the Belles in Blue lost two ties by a 0-3 scoreline. It might appear sketchy on the surface, but upon closer examination, their round-robin draw wasn’t easy.
Aside from the lower-ranked Kazakhs, the girls had to face China and Japan. While the former has one player in the top 100 and another in the top 150, the latter boasts two ranked inside the top 50!
Given that Ankita, the World No 270, is the highest-ranked member in the India side, it was a big ask to expect anything other than a loss. But — if sport has taught us anything — attitude, and not the end result, is the right barometer for judging a player. And skipper Nandan Bal — on his first assignment — was impressed by the maturity shown by his team, three of whom are under 20 years of age.
“The last tie was a somewhat tentative performance, but the bottom line is that it was a good win to stay in Group I. Considering the Japanese and Chinese line-ups, we put up a good show. Against China especially, both singles matches were pretty close,” he told Express.
“The girls were highly professional. They played well above themselves and did not allow either their opponents’ ranking or reputation to affect the way they dealt with the matches.”
But such praise aside, the veteran coach is not being delusional. He knows his charges need to compete at a higher level if they want to adapt to the current demands of the game.
“There are a bunch of areas to improve, but they mainly need to play tournaments of a much higher level than they currently do. It’s the only way to get used to the speed the game is currently being played at,” Bal said.
Even Ankita believes that she has learned a lot from the ties, despite losing all three singles matches. She felt that the captain’s game plan worked whenever she was able to execute it. “Against Japan’s Misaki Doi (ranked 42), I had a few opportunities in the second set, but I couldn’t make them count.
Versus China’s Zhu Lin (ranked 118), I won the second set and recovered from a break down in the third, only to falter in the end. One can either feel bad after looking at the result, or take mental notes by focussing on the positives. I prefer the latter,” the 24-year-old opined.
‘Graduating’ from Zone Group I might be beyond their reach at the moment, but if the team’s attitude stays the same, their results are bound to improve.
rohan@newindianexpress.com