Ayhika stunned the World's number paddler, China's Sun Yingsha in India’s first group match.
They have been playing together since their childhood, almost for the last 15 years and they have settled as a professional doubles pair for the last three-half years.
Sutirtha was overwhelmed by her doubles partner’s amazing performance in the just-concluded World team championship in Busan where Ayhika stunned the World's number paddler, China's Sun Yingsha in India’s first group match.
Sutirtha commenting on Ayhika’s performance explained, “I believe our victory against the Chinese pair Chen Meng and Yidi Wang and finishing in the competition with the bronze medal was the turning point. We acquired the belief that Chinese paddlers are not unbeatable and Ayhika’s performance against Sun Yingsha was the reflection of that belief.”
Sutirtha refused to agree that only the tricky rubber Ayhika uses on her backhand could do the magic against Sun who was unbeaten in the last 26 international matches. "You cannot defeat the World's number one paddler only with Dr Neubauer Gorila rubber. You need to be patient, and confident and execute your planning on the board."
Ayhika’s coach Soumyadeep Roy, former senior national champion and national coach also has the same belief. He opined stating, "We had a telephonic conversation before the match. I advised Ayhika mainly to try to slow down her aggressive game style and offer an attacking brand of the game in reply. Ayhika was successful in implementing the planning. More importantly, she never tried to execute experimental shots."
Ayhika who has been under Soumyadeep Roy-Poulomi Ghatak academy for three-and-half years in total described her stunning victory stating in a post-match media conversation, “Yes, Sun is an amazing player. She is one of the greats. But I did not remember that while playing the match. I enjoyed, could be able to implement my planning.”
Sutirtha did not hesitate to say, “Ayhika’s performance will inspire me to play better in the future." Soumyadeep also added, “Ayhika’s performance will motivate us to produce more paddlers of international standard.”
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