The Maldives National Junior Tennis Team has departed to compete in the Billie Jean King Cup, scheduled to be held in Jordan from 16-21 of this month. The Maldivian squad traveling for this tournament includes Ara Asal Azim, Naba Nishan, Nayara Usama Ali, and Aishath Karin Saizan. The hopeful national junior tennis team departed for Jordan on Thursday morning after completing their preparations for this tournament. The team is being guided by experienced Iranian coach Ali Riza Riza.
Speaking to “PSM News” about the team’s preparations before departing for the tournament, the coach said that the Maldives also competed in this tournament last year. In that tournament, they competed against 16 countries and secured sixth place. He also mentioned that the four children in this year’s squad are showing great enthusiasm and determination.
“We can see that the children are working with great enthusiasm and passion. The hope is to achieve a good result. We hope that these children will receive good support from the Maldives Tennis Association and tennis players,” said the Head Coach of the Maldives Tennis Association. Naba Nishan, who is in the Maldivian squad for the Billie Jean King Cup, said that she always strives to reach the highest possible level. However, Naba said that this time the goal is to qualify for the second round. Naba has stated that the entire team will work very hard to achieve this goal.
“The target is always to reach the highest. But this time, the biggest goal is to qualify for the second round. That’s a point not yet reached in Maldivian history. All the children in the team are working very hard. We will work very hard to try to reach the second round,” said Naba, who is preparing to compete in this tournament for the first time.
Like Naba, Nayara Usama Ali also said that qualifying for the second round is the goal. She mentioned that she also competed in this tournament last year, and that tournament was a very important experience for this year’s tournament. “We played very well last year. This year, we’ve improved many things. That was a big help for this tournament. Every tournament is a new experience. We learn so many things. The team develops further. So I believe we will play much better in this year’s tournament,” Nayara said.
Along with Nayara, Ara Asal also competed in last year’s tournament. Noting that they secured 6th place in that tournament, Ara said that this year they focused on what needed improvement from that tournament. Therefore, she said they will face this year’s tournament with significant improvements in those areas. “When Ara and others played last time, we got sixth place. We learned a lot from that tournament. We realized that doubles needed more improvement. So we prepared this time focusing a lot on doubles. We’ve also developed strategies for singles matches,” Ara noted.
Karin, the youngest player going to the Billie Jean King Cup at 14 years old, said she hopes to qualify for the second round and achieve a good ranking in the tournament. “The target is to qualify for the second round and get first place. Practices were conducted very intensively every day. The practices went really well,” said Karin, who recently joined the national team.
