Tennis
Tokyo Olympics: Tennis Day 2, July 25 – Sania Mirza/Ankita Raina vs Nadiia Kichenok/Lyudmyla Kichenok – Preview, schedule, LIVE Streaming, where to watch
Indian Women's Doubles pair of Sania Mirza-Ankita Raina will kickstart their campaign at the Tokyo Olympics by taking on the Kichenok sisters.
Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina to feature on Day 2 of the Tokyo Olympics (Source: IANS)
All eyes will be on the Indian tennis pair of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina as they begin their campaign at the Tokyo Olympics in the Women's Doubles event. Pitted against the Kichenok twins - Nadiia and Lyudmyla, the Sania Mirza-Ankita Raina pair will hope to make a winning start to their medal bid at the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo.
For Sania Mirza, this will be her fourth consecutive Olympic appearance - a rave feat in itself for the 6-time Grand Slam champion. Accompanying her on this outing will be Ahmedabad's Ankita Raina who will be making her Olympic debut at Tokyo.
Playing her first Olympics as a mother, Sania Mirza will be eager to make a strong start as the opponents from Ukraine are most familiar to her. In fact, it was with Nadiia Kichenok that Sania Mirza made a resounding return to tennis after taking a maternity leave and went on to win the 2020 Hobart International - her 42nd career title.
To the 34-year-old Mirza's credit also lies the fact that only recently, Sania Mirza handed the Kichenok twins a comprehensive defeat at the Doha Open in March, partnering with Andreja Klepac. Thus, Mirza is familiar with the game of the Kichenok sisters and there won't be any surprises taking place.
The lone concern for Mirza will be to ensure that Ankita Raina does not succumb under the pressure of playing her first Olympics and gives it her best. While Sania's powerful forehands and strong service games have been a close assistant to her enjoying so much success in her career, Ankita's forte lies in the baseline. They need to absolutely play to their strengths to come out on top of this match and enter the second round of the Women's Doubles event at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 28-year-old Raina, as the India No. 1 in both singles and doubles has shone of late and will be desperate to bring that form to the match and Sania is expected to lead from the front, being the veteran as she is. Notably, the Sania-Ankita pair have had a successful pairing so far and have guided India to a win at the Billie Jean King Cup playoff tie.
Although Nadiia and Lyudmyla, as sisters and partners on-court have had more success together than Sania-Ankita as they have won 3 titles including a WTA title together, Sania Mirza will be expected to take charge of the match and Ankita Raina should be up for the challenge from the the Ukrainian pair of 29-year-olds.
Schedule and When to Watch?
The venue for all tennis events at the Tokyo Olympics is going to be the Ariake Tennis Park where all the on-court action is expected to unfurl.
Women's Doubles - First Round
Sania Mirza/Ankita Raina v Nadiia Kichenok/Lyudmyla Kichenok not before 7:30 AM IST on July 25, 2021
Live Streaming and Where to Watch?
You can catch all the action LIVE on Sony Sports Network channels in India. You can also live stream it on the Sony LIV application or website if you have the required subscription. Alternatively, you can also watch the match on Doordarshan (DD) Sports in India.
Here are the details of broadcasters in some more countries:
Japan: The Japan Consortium
USA: NBC Universal
UK: BBC, Eurosport
China: CCTV
Australia: Seven Network
Germany: ARD-ZDF
Brazil: Grupo Globo, Bandsports
Spain: RTVE
Italy: RAI
France: Eurosport
South Africa: SABC
