Sania Mirza-Ankita Raina Handed Shock Defeat in 1st Round at Tokyo Olympics

Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina were in pole position to win before the Ukrainian pair fought back at Tokyo.

File: Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina were knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics in the first round.

Image: PTI 

Veteran Indian tennis player Sania Mirza and her partner Ankita Raina’s campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is over after they were knocked out in the first round on Sunday.

For Sania, this was her 4^th Olympic Games, while Ankita was making her debut. Sania had played the last three Olympics in Beijing, London and Rio with Sunitha Rao, Rushmi Chakravarthi and Prarthana Thombare, respectively.

The Indian duo lost in first round against Ukrainian twins Nadiia and Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-0, 6(0)-7, 8-10.

The Indian duo began the contest in brilliant fashion, winning the first at a canter at 6-0 in just 21 minutes and then looking set to clinch the game without much ado in the second set when they were leading 5-3. At that point, Sania was serving for the match, however the Ukrainian pair fought back and how!

The Ukrainian pair fought back to clinch the second set taking the contest into the super tie-break in the third set.

In the super tiebreak, they came back from 7-1 down to make it 8-8, but lost the next two points to lose the match.

India's only other hope for a medal in the tennis draws rests on the broad shoulders of Sumit Nagal, who won a singles game in the men's draw for the first time since 1996 when Leander Paes won Bronze in Atlanta.