Not all is lost

However,not continuing the mourning for too long,the U-16 team of Delhi’s Tahira Bhatti and Jasmine Kaur Bajaj and Mumbai’s Snehadevi Reddy pulled up their socks and won every tie they played after that,beating Sri Lanka,Uzbekistan,Malaysia and Hong Kong to finish 9th among 16 participating nations.

Team Captain Shalini Thakur Chawla,who has coached the junior Fed Cup team for the past two years as well knows that this is a good performance despite the heartbreaking exit from the final eight.

“It was only about a couple of points and games against Thailand otherwise we would have been in the quarters where beating New Zealand to advance would have been rather easy. Nevertheless,these were a motivated bunch of girls and the advantage for them is that being a part of this team event,they have a chance to improve next year as well because they will still be under the age limit,” Shalini said.

The sweetest victory for India came on the last day of the tournament on Sunday when the unseeded hosts rallied to beat seventh seeds Hong Kong in straight sets in both the singles rubbers.

For Delhi girls Jasmine and Tahira,playing at the RK Khanna stadium never got better as they had a good support in the stands when they beat Hong Kong. “It was my first experience playing a team event and unlike being on the tennis circuit where everyone wants to do well individually,it feels good to be supported by a team,discuss things,cheer each other on. So I really liked it,” Tahira,who was the team’s top player said.

Under pressure

She also walked onto the courts amid pressure a couple of times when India had lost the first singles to pull one back. Specially after conceding the first match to Thailand,her effort was crucial in keeping the tie alive. Against Uzbekistan on Saturday as well,India lost the first but Tahira won her singles tie and helped win the doubles later to continue India’s winning run.

“I never took it as a negative thing that my teammate has lost the first one. I always play to win a match,so whenever we were in such a situation,I knew I needed to win for the team,” Tahira says.

Promising Snehadevi

Another good find through this tournament has been Snehadevi Reddy,who is just 14 and will represent India again in the U-14 World Juniors event this week in Malaysia. Sneha’s experience of doing well in ITF’s Asian circuit team event last month in Jakarta was also very helpful in several crucial decisive doubles rubbers.

She has also been selected by the ITF to further represent Asia in the U-15 circuit in Europe next month and with her vast experience of playing international players,she will be a strong contender to make the junior Fed Cup team next year as well — when hopefully they will end the jinx of falling out of the top-eight teams.

Results: Group matches: (2) Australia beat India 3-0,(8) Thailand beat India 2-1,India beat Sri Lanka 3-0.

Classification matches: India beat Malaysia 2-1,India beat Uzbekistan 2-1,India beat (7) Hong Kong 2-1.

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