‘ODI World Cup win gave Indian girls belief’: Ankita Raina ahead of BJK Cup

NEW DELHI: India’s leading tennis player Ankita Raina on Sunday said the national team is drawing inspiration from the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team’s recent ODI World Cup victory. As Ankita and team prepare for the Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup tie, scheduled from April 7-11 here, that historic triumph has been set as a marker for India’s women athletes to follow.

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“I would say it was such an important event and achievement, and it was such a historic thing. It completely changed the atmosphere in the country. A player knows what it takes to get there or to achieve that. I literally felt that all the Indians have won the World Cup with that achievement. That triumph just gave us a lot of self-belief. That’s what it did, and we want to do that even in tennis...at the BJK Cup,” Ankita told TOI in an interview.




India will be aiming to qualify for the BJK Cup’s World Group playoffs this week — an achievement India has managed only twice before in the tournament’s history. Formerly known as the Federation Cup (1963-1995) and Fed Cup (1995-2020), the tournament was rebranded as the BJK Cup in 2020.

Ankita emphasised that the current squad is motivated to push for a historic third qualification. “It was a huge milestone for the Indian women’s tennis when we qualified for the World Group play-offs (played in Latvia) for the first time in 2020 after finishing second (behind China) in the Asia/Oceania Group I in Dubai.

“It happened again for the second time last year in Pune, when we qualified for the playoffs which were later played in Bengaluru. Such achievements bring sport to a different level and increase awareness. So, we made history before, and we are looking to create another this week in Delhi,” the 33-year-old from Ahmedabad said.

“When tennis goes even further and, when in the future there will be more players at the international level, I would say that winning in the BJK Cup and qualifying for play-offs will be our contribution to that,” she added.

Ankita also credited Indian tennis legend Sania Mirza for inspiring several girls like her to take up sports and said it was a huge honour to step into her shoes post her retirement and carry forward the legacy.

“Being in the same team as Sania, with her being the senior player, was a huge honour for me. Getting the experience from her or just being in the team with her around, watching her play, helped me somewhere build as a player because she’s been world No 1 (doubles) and she’s had so many Slams. So having someone you idolise or seeing growing up helps. Now when more players are coming to the team and joining it, I think I am sort of playing the similar role, having played so many times for India,” she said.

Ankita has represented the country for nearly 15 years and remains a central figure in the team.
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