She did it, and she did it well! She defeated World No. 18 Jia Nan Yuan of France 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7) in the Round of 32 on Thursday at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Panaji to record her biggest-ever win in her career. Not only that, but she is the only Indian in the tournament besides Manika Batra.
Batra, the top-ranked Indian woman, demonstrated why she is so highly regarded, winning 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8) over World No. 14 Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico.
Sutirtha, whose current WTT ranking is 147, had to work hard in qualifying after being passed over for a wildcard direct entry into the main draw of the country’s first WTT event.
Sutirtha faced World No. 92 Li Yu-Jhun in the second round after a relatively easy 3-0 (11-3 11-6, 11-7) first-round win over compatriot Prapti Sen. Sutirtha had found her rhythm and managed to win 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-6) against the Taipei paddler. She had clearly warmed up enough after a 3-1 win over World No. 110 Lee Eunhye of Korea in the final round of qualifying.
Sutirtha knew she’d have to do something incredible to beat 37-year-old Frenchwoman Yuan after defeating compatriot Suhana Saini 3-1 in the Rd of 64. She was willing to suffer.
Sutirtha has grown accustomed to suffering. The entire incident leading up to the Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021), in which Manika accused then-India coach Soumyadeep Roy of ordering her to lose a match against Sutirtha, whom he also personally coached (and still does), took its toll on her.
Sutirtha’s ranking dropped dramatically during the pandemic as a result of this, combined with a strained national circuit. As a result, she did not make the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year.
She handled it calmly. According to Roy, a lack of funds prevented her from competing in international tournaments on the WTT circuit. But she kept practising, as evidenced by her victory at the National Games last September, when she defeated Batra in the semifinals and then outplayed national champion Sreeja Akula in the final.
She did well in the zonal and other tournaments as well, but it was simply a lack of funds that prevented her from playing in better tournaments abroad, Roy said on Thursday.
Not competing in those tournaments was also a blessing in disguise, according to Roy, who had more time to train her.
Her game has improved as a result of her consistent training. She’s clearly a fighter, and things can only get better from here, he said, referring to the Asian Games later this year.
