We are not going down that easily... Comeback from 1-5 to 4-5 with 2 breaks and serving. Wow, some spirited tennis suddenly from us. We saved 3 or 4 match pts earlier (which were playoff points for Korea too, as they anxiously wait for us to lose)
At 5-6, we saved 2 more match pts from 15-40 and finally Ankita missed a volley that was there for the taking. 16 57 loss.
We finish 3rd, Korea advances.
If you have any shame, please resign, Ms. Shalini Thakur. Thank you.
(I should have said, "if you have any shame, fire her AITA" but I know that they have no shame. Not an iota. Or they would not have had near-no-names like Shalini Thakur and Rohit Rajpal as our national captains when so many others with much more tennis accomplishments are out there)
Unbelievably frustrating. Wasted a fabulous tournament that Rutuja and Prarthana had. Wasted two young talents Shrivalli and Sahaja. They could have helped immensely by going out and even losing a couple of matches, as it would have given Ankita some rest. But Ankita, I am sure must shoulder responsibility. This was pure hardheadedness by her. Even if the coach asked her to keep playing #1 singles, she should have known not to do that yesterday and today. I am pretty sure that, having seen AR's poor form in singles by day 3, Shalini Thakur would not have forced her to play every day, if AR had talked strategy and suggested resting. Shalini Thakur must take blame for not doing her duty as the captain and forcing her to sit. Not establishing your own authority (whether you deserved it when given authority) is a major failing she has, if she felt that she could not tell Ankita not to play. Between these two, they managed to totally screw up this event.
I am terribly mad.
... I feel horrible to be this unkind to Ankita, the warhorse whom we all love, but she screwed up. No other way to put it. She totally messed up.
If I am this mad, I can only imagine what Sahaja and Shrivalli are feeling, having had to sit around silently and watch this mayhem, unable to do anything to help. I feel bad for them too.