Uber Cup 2024: Indian youngsters were outplayed by mighty China – but beyond 0-5 scoreline, here’s what we learned about NextGen
Isharani Baruah is No 83, Anmol Kharb is No 258 and Tanvi Sharma is No 589. Tanvi was also the youngest at the Uber Cup, at age 15. (BAI)
There were myriad technical shortcomings of hers that Isharani Baruah candidly reflected on after being shot out 21-12, 21-10 by Olympic champion Chen Yufei playing the Uber Cup group match. The pace of the rallies she could cope with, but Yufei’s lengths, her drops, variations, and all strokes going to the backcourt, mightily awed the 20-year-old. “And it was not comfortable. It was tough. I have to improve my strokes and variations,” she would state.
Then wide-eyed, guilelessly she would get to the crux of the only thing she could control: “..and she doesn’t make silly mistakes like me.” It was taking responsibility after being fielded as the No 1 singles player and being as realistic as someone thrown into the deep end could be. (Read more from Shivani Naik)
