Sports News | Karman Exhibits Fearless Tennis in First Match in 16 Months; Riya Lone Indian Surviving in Singles
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Competing after more than a year, Karman Kaur Thandi impressed on her comeback despite defeat while Ankita Raina was blown away by junior world number eight Laura Samson as Indian challenge shrunk considerably in the ITF W50 tournament here on a chilly Wednesday.
New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) Competing after more than a year, Karman Kaur Thandi impressed on her comeback despite defeat while Ankita Raina was blown away by junior world number eight Laura Samson as Indian challenge shrunk considerably in the ITF W50 tournament here on a chilly Wednesday.
The dense fog played havoc with the schedule as the matches began after a two-hour delay and by the end of the day, former national champion Riya Bhatia was the lone Indian left in the singles draw with as many as six players making a first round exit.
All eyes were on Karman, who was sidelined since September 2023 due to elbow and knee injury and she exhibited a lot of fighting spirit. She went for her extravagant strokes in the opening round match against second seed Panna Udvardy, who was ranked 76 in 2022.
The 26-year-old Karman lost 4-6 1-6 to the Hungary player, giving a lot of free points in the contest, as she obviously lacked match sharpness.
"I had to maintain the pace at this level. I have always played like that. Important thing that I did not feel off on comeback. Sharpness will come with more matches," Karman told PTI after her match.
"It was not that I was trying too hard. There were no expectations, I just want to stay healthy, things will fall in place slowly."
Karman showed intent and that was enough for her coach Aditya Sachdeva.
"She showed signs of brilliance. I am pretty happy with her performance. She served well and stroked well. A few things will come with time, important is that she had the intent to fight hard," Sachdeva told PTI.
Before Karman took court, Riya had to work hard to beat Japan's Eri Shimizu 7-6(3) 2-6 7-5 in her opening round.
Riya, who practised at the now-shut NCA in Delhi before joining RoundGlass academy in Chandigarh where Sachdeva looks after the coaching programme, struggled with her toss and resultantly made a lot of double faults.
In the long drawn points, the Japanese had the edge as wild card Riya was inconsistent, but somehow she found a way to win.
Sachdeva remarked that Riya needs to stay in the present.
She next faces fourth seed Briton Yuriko LilyMiyazaki.
India's number one singles player Ankita lost 1-6 3-6 to Samson, who had made the junior French Open final last year.
The Czech player, only 16-years-old, had tremendous control over her ground strokes as she hardly gave any free points to Ankita.
Samson moved the 32-year-old Ankita on both flanks, setting up points with authority. To her credit, Ankita moved fast on the court but she was left to defend most of the times, she could not dictate points, playing to the strength of her rival.
Also exiting the tournament were, wild card Vaishnavi Adkar, Vaidehi Chaudhari, Akansha Nitture and India number three Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidapaty.
Vaishnavi lost 6-7 (3) 2-6 to sixth seed Slovakian Dalila Jakupovic while Vaidehi lost 4-6 4-6 to seventh seed Tatiana Prozorova.
Wild card Akansha was no match to Chinese qualifier Fangran Tian as she could win only one game while Shrivalli 1-6 3-6 went down against qualifier Maria Kozyreva. 7/21/2024
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