Billie Jean King Cup: Clay court a concern for otherwise a strong Indian team, says Ankita Raina

Ankita Raina was confident of India’s capacity to put up a good fare in the Asia-Oceania Billie Jean King Cup women’s tennis tournament in Changsha, China, but warned about not being overconfident, considering the clay surface.

On the eve of the tournament, the 30-year-old Ankita, who reached China from Japan after winning a doubles title in ITF circuit, was quite happy about the form and fitness of all the team members.

“We have a strong team and everyone has done well in the last two months. That is a positive. Even for doubles, we have options”, said Ankita.

Rutuja Bhosale had won the Asian Games mixed doubles gold with Rohan Bopanna, to assert her prowess. She has been playing doubles in pro circuit with Ankita. Prarthana Thombare has returned to the team, and she is also fresh from winning a $60,000 event doubles title in Croatia.

“The only thing is we are playing on clay this time. I don’t know how many of us are comfortable playing and performing on clay. For this reason, don’t want to be overconfident. I think that cost us a bit last year against Korea in the last tie, even though the result would not have changed our position”, said Ankita.

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Cautious optimism would be the way forward, and the Indian team has to play its best, as all the five players are very capable of beating anyone on their day.

The captain of the team, Shalini Thakur Chawla, pointed out that the wet weather had forced the Indian team to prepare both indoors and outdoors over the last few days, after landing in China.

There may not be any relief in case of rain, as the facility has indoor clay courts as well.

India will warm up for the tougher challenges ahead with the first match against Pacific Oceania on Tuesday.

China, Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan are the other teams in the fray. After the round robin league among the six teams, the top two teams will qualify for the World Group play-off. The bottom two teams will be relegated to Asia-Oceania group-2.