Mumbai’s Samika Khanna wins U-14 All India Ranking tennis national tournament

Maharashtra’s Samika Khanna won the Under-14 Lawn Tennis All India Ranking Championship Series held in New Delhi on Friday. The seven-day long championship series, held on the clay courts of New Era Sports Centre in Dwarka, is an official ranking tournament under the All India Tennis Association.

Among a field of over 100 nationally-ranked players coming from around 25 states, across a main draw as well as a qualifying section, Khanna was not among the favourites. In fact, she defeated the top seed, and only player in the field that was ranked in the top 100, Shubhi Sharma, in the quarterfinals despite being the underdog. The Mumbai-based tennis player beat the top seed 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. She was equally dominant in the final, triumphing 6-2, 6-0 to take an unlikely title.

After the victory, Khanna walks away with 25 ranking points that could massively improve her current standing of India no. 221 in the Under-14 category as of the end of July. The rankings are updated on a rolling basis, decided by performances per competition week throughout the year.

With big serves and power game slightly more neutralised on the clay courts, Khanna was able to show promising all-round skills during the course of the week.

The tournament in New Delhi, organised by the Ethical Tennis Academy under the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) as the home association, is one of around 15 national tournaments that take place throughout the country in a year, offering ranking points to the players in age group categories in order for them to earn appropriate experience and compete with the best in the country on the national stage.

Khanna will now have playing opportunities in the same category throughout the country in the next few months before the Under-14 Nationals take place in Aurangabad in November.

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