Younger twin Rheea towers over ‘big sister’ Anaya

Hill Spring International’s Anaya Goyal (left) with twin sister Rheea at Bombay Gym; (right) Girls U-16 finalist Shrimoyee Kamat

Sibling rivalry was on full view at the Bombay Gymkhana's tennis courts when Rheea Goyal of Hill Spring International School (Tardeo) took on her elder twin sister Anaya in a closely contested semi-final of the MSSA girls U-16 inter-school lawn tennis tournament on Wednesday.

Rheea rallied from 0-2 down in the best-of-five games semi-final to beat Anaya, who is elder by five minutes, 7-2 in the tie-breaker and storm into the final.
Interestingly, whenever the two sisters have competed against each other before, Anaya has always emerged victorious. This time though Rheea turned the tables on her sister. After losing the first two games, Rheea kept her composure and fought back to win the next two and take the match into the tie-breaker. Her well-placed forehands then helped her emerge victorious even as Anaya was left upset and frustrated.

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"I've played against her [Anaya] multiple times before and she has always beaten me. Recently, I lost to her at the MSLTA event and the CCI tournament too. This is the first time I have defeated her in a tournament. When I was down 0-2, I thought it'll be tough to stage a comeback, but decided to give it my best and see how it goes. I'm very happy with this win," Rheea told mid-day. An upset Anaya refused to offer any comment after her defeat.

In the other semi-final, Shrimoyee Kamat of Nalanda Public School (Mulund) beat Sumaiya Khan of St Mary's High School (Santacruz) 3-0 thanks to some strong baseline play. The final will be on October 25.