How Ayhika Mukherjee’s anti-spin rubber and well-disguised deception puzzled the Koreans

Against World No. 8 Shin Yubin successful the opening necktie of the quarterfinal against Korea, Ayhika knew that if India had to bash the unthinkable and propulsion disconnected an upset, she needed to win.

It was a nervy time for India too. Their lucifer was expected to beryllium astatine 5 p.m. (local time) and it was lone astatine 9 americium that they received an email informing them that their lucifer was brought guardant to 12 noon. They scrambled and got acceptable conscionable successful clip for the tie.

Mentally, thing could disturb them. Ayhika’s absorption was coagulated from the connection spell arsenic she raced to an 11-9 triumph successful the opening game. After losing the 2nd and down 2-8 successful the third, she remained unfazed. She met Yubin’s ferocious forehand attacks with her antiaircraft backhand.
Instead of playing side-to-side, Ayhika varied the length, forcing Yubin to play a escaped shot which she instantly punished.

It was her impregnable defence and speedy modulation into onslaught which stunned Yubin, who offered hardly immoderate absorption successful the last 5th game.

India needed Ayhika’s services again successful the winner-takes-all last rubber against World No. 16 Jeon Jihee and this time, she did 1 better. After losing the archetypal game, the 27-year-old roared backmost to triumph the contention 3-1 (7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10) and seal the lucifer for India.

There’s a batch of speech astir the long-pimpled rubber utilized by Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula but opponents volition privation to survey Ayhika’s anti-spin rubber too.

Her anti-spin rubber tin beryllium utilized to chop and paired with a thinner sponge, tin adjacent reverse incoming spin. The lone drawback is that she has to beryllium immaculately precise with her shots.

Ayhika’s manager Soumyadeep Roy tells The Indian Express that she was capable to win due to the fact that she managed to dilatory the crippled down well.
“When you play against an attacking player, it’s precise hard to dilatory the pace. But this was her main maneuver and she was capable to bash that adjacent successful important points which is testament to the hard enactment she had enactment successful implicit the past year, some mentally and physically.”

Speaking astir her anti-spin rubber, Roy said: “It’s pugnacious to usage due to the fact that you person to person large power implicit the ball. If you play it normally, it won’t dilatory down. You person to rapidly gauge what rotation your hostile is playing with.”

One of the reasons wherefore Ayhika’s been truthful palmy according to Roy is due to the fact that she tin alteration her shots by utilizing the aforesaid action.

“She tin deed the shot with the aforesaid action, from the aforesaid height, but the hostile won’t cognize however the shot volition rotation oregon whether it volition rotation oregon not. It’s precise hard for the hostile to understand, which results successful them making a mistake and giving her the accidental to attack,” helium said.