Raina stumbles at final hurdle

Pune girl and India’s highest ranked women’s player,Ankita Raina,faltered in the final of the $25,000 ITF Women tennis tournament in Karshi,Uzbekistan. Raina who is supported by sports NGO Lakshya in association with Bharat Forge,lost the final against local girl Sabina Sharipova on Saturday.

The 21-year-old,who began her challenge in the competition from the qualifiers,failed to keep the momentum and lost 6-3,6-3 against Sharipova,who is ranked 80 places above the Indian in the world

rankings.

“This was the first time I was playing in a $25,000 event final and was very anxious. I did not show enough patience and that hurt me,” said Ankita,who now hopes for a similar strong showing at the USD 25000 ITF event in Bukhara,Uzbekistan next week.

The run to the final helped Ankita add a valuable 34 points to her ranking and gave a much needed push towards breaking into the top-300 in 2013.