Tennis star Ankita Raina was brilliant on Wednesday when she reached the semifinals at the Asian Games, confirming a medal for the country. Today, she bagged the bronze medal after losing the women's singles semi-final against world no. 34, China's Shuai Zhang, 4-6, 6-7.
India now have 16 medals - 4 gold, 3 silver, 9 bronze
India's top-ranked in women's singles, Raina was spreadheading the team in the tournament as she breezed past Eudice Chong 6-4 6-1 of Hong Kong in their quarter-final match.
In the semi-final match, Raina seemed to be struggling with nausea. For a moment, she rested off court for some treatment. Unfortunately, she lost the sets against Shuai Zhang.
It was a thrilling semi-final. Raina, having dropped the first set, forced the second into a tie-breaker.
The tennis star has recently entered the top-200 of world rankings. She is the fifth Indian woman to have made it among the top 200 in singles. The WTA list in April announced Raina’s career-best rank of 197, PTI reported.
Recently, Raina beat Japan’s Risa Ozaki to win her second singles title at the $25,000 ITF tournament in Thailand. “I have done so much hard work and remained patient to get to this point. I was between 200 and 250 bracket for some time and it takes time to break the barrier. It’s tough out there,” Ankita said, while she was competing in the ITF circuit, PTI reported.
She put on a stellar show during the Fed Cup Asia, remaining undefeated throughout the week while beating top-100 players like Lin Zhu of China and Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
“Since the Fed Cup, I am happy with my game. I am getting the opportunities, and more importantly, I am grabbing them. Of course, improvement is always required. I am trying to improve every day, the small things,” Raina had told sportstarlive.com.
Congratulations Ankita Raina. Proud of you!
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