“Fancy our chances against all teams,” says Indian captain Shalini Thakur Chawla ahead of Billie Jean King Cup

Shalini pointed out that China was in a different class, with a bunch of high ranked players, among the six teams that would be competing but she did fancy India’s chances against them.

File Photo: Shalini Thakur Chawla, Indian captain for the Billi Jean King Cup | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Ankita Raina has remained unchallenged as the No.1 in the country, but there have been impressive performances from Sahaja Yamalapalli and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, which has reinforced the faith in the team’s chances in the forthcoming Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania group-1 competition scheduled to be staged in Changsha, China, from April 9 to 13.

A quick conversation with the captain of the Indian team, Shalini Thakur Chawla, did underline the point that it should not be a surprise if the team qualified for the World Group play-off.

“We have a good team. The performances of Sahaja and Shrivalli in the last six months has been very good. They were the debutants last year. Sahaja has become No.2 in the country. The two were hungry to perform, and have put in the hours and hard work to improve their quality”, said Shaini, on the eve of the team’s departure, on Wednesday.

With the return of doubles specialist Prarthana Thombare in the team, Shalini did feel that the Indian team was quite balanced, forcing her to admit, “We do not miss Karman Thandi”.

The wiry Karman, a commendable player who had served the team well, has been injured for some time now. She has just about returned to the court to get ready for the tournaments ahead.

Shalini pointed out that China was in a different class, with a bunch of high ranked players, among the six teams that would be competing on clay in the Billie Jean King Cup.

World No.8 Qinwen Zheng, Xinyu Wang (43), Xiyu Wang (55) and Lin Zhu (59) give China a formidable look. Hanyu Guo is ranked 36 in doubles, and Xinyu Wang’s doubles rank is 23.

“We will fight out best against China, but fancy our chances against all the other teams. On paper, there is not much difference between us and the other teams. It will all depend on how we perform on a given day. The second singles could be the key”, said Shalini.

The captain pointed out that India had finished third behind Japan and China in Turkey in 2022, when the event was played on clay the last time.

Japan does not figure in the group this time. Korea, New Zealand, Pacific Oceania and Chinese Taipei are the other teams apart from China and India this time.

The top two teams will qualify for the World Group play-off while the bottom two would be relegated to Asia-Oceania group-2.

Ankita will join the team from Japan, while Prarthana will reach China from Europe. Rutuja is expected to join a day later, after the first batch reaches China on Thursday.

“We hope to have about eight sessions of practice on clay there. It depends on the weather also, as it is monsoon time, and weather forecast predicts rain”, said Shalini.

Among the other teams, Chinese Taipei has world No.1 doubles player, Su-Wei Hsieh and the 27th ranked Hao-Ching Chan. New Zealand has world No.5 doubles player Erin Routliffe.

Overall, it should be lively competition.