Sahaja Yamalapalli Left Out of India’s Asian Games Tennis Squad

India’s No. 1 women’s singles player Sahaja Yamalapalli has been left out of the country’s Asian Games tennis squad after the final sanctioned list was reduced from the 12 players proposed by the All India Tennis Association to seven. Vaishnavi Adkar and Vaidehee Chaudhari, the next two highest-ranked Indian women’s singles players, were also omitted.

The Sports Ministry’s final sanction order, issued on August 22, cleared 492 athletes across 35 disciplines for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Tennis is scheduled to be held during the Games from September 19 to October 4. Among the women, only Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale were retained in the final squad.

The decision removes India’s leading women’s singles contenders from selection and could leave the country without a representative in the women’s singles event. Sahaja, who is ranked 344 on the WTA chart, said she was shocked and disappointed after learning she would not have the opportunity to compete.

Top women’s singles players miss selection

Sahaja leads India’s women’s singles rankings at No. 344, followed by Vaishnavi at No. 390 and Vaidehee at No. 437. The AITA had included all three in its original proposal and made a specific case for Sahaja’s selection in a July 3 representation to the Indian Olympic Association.

In that submission, the association described Sahaja as India’s highest-ranked women’s singles player and referred to her deep runs at ITF and WTA events against higher-ranked opponents. It also cited Vaishnavi’s bronze medal at the FISU World University Games and Vaidehee’s consistency on the international circuit.

Speaking from the Netherlands, where she was competing on the WTA circuit, Sahaja said she had been looking forward to the Asian Games. She pointed to the potential for unexpected results in major multi-sport events, arguing that lower-ranked players can defeat more established opponents and contend for medals.

“I am really shocked and disappointed to hear this. I was very much looking forward to competing in the Asian Games,” Sahaja said. She added that players needed the belief and support of administrators, noting that qualifiers at Grand Slam events can make deep runs and alter expectations.

Prarthana Thombare was another women’s player omitted from the Games, while men’s singles prospect Manas Dhamne also did not make the final list. The reduction means AITA’s full proposed tennis contingent was not accepted.

AITA cites selection criteria and doubles case

AITA interim Secretary General Sunder Iyer said the association had tried to convince authorities to send all of its selected players. He said the explanation given was a criterion of sending only top-eight players in Asia, adding that the same standard applied across sports.

The association had argued that tennis at the Asian Games has five separate medal events and that selection should account for the differing demands of singles, doubles and mixed doubles. It also highlighted India’s mixed doubles prospects, saying three Indian combinations were among the top eight accepted entries and that India was entitled to enter two pairs.

AITA had sought the inclusion of Ankita and Prarthana as established doubles specialists. Ankita won a women’s doubles bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games and reached the quarterfinals in singles and mixed doubles at Hangzhou 2022. The association urged the Indian Olympic Association to review the exclusions on an event-specific basis, saying the accepted entries provided legitimate medal opportunities.

India’s men’s squad includes singles players Sumit Nagal and Dhakshineswar Suresh, along with doubles players Yuki Bhambri, N Sriram Balaji and Anirudh Chandrasekar. The women’s contingent consists of Ankita and Rutuja as a doubles pairing, with the omission of Sahaja, Vaishnavi and Vaidehee placing the women’s singles entry in doubt.