Twin sisters Mayanka and Mahi­ka Rana are both tennis prod­igies. At 17, they have already notched up many achievements, both personally and for the country. They are top seeded tennis players in the Doubles, Juniors and Women categories and are geared to rep­resent Nepal in professional tennis tournaments around the world. Now with around two dozen titles between them, the two started play­ing tennis at seven. “Our family has been the biggest inspiration,” says Mayanka. Their father, Manoj SJB Rana, is a ranked player in the International Tennis Federation Seniors category and their mother, Jyoti Rana, is the president of the All Nepal Tennis Federation, the official lawn tennis body of the country. “We started as a hobby but then we began playing in tournaments and winning, which motivated us to be professionals,” Mayanka adds.

 

Tennis is still an elite sport in Nepal today. Learning, practicing and playing tennis is a big expense, which makes the sport quite exclu­sive. As such, compared to other sports, tennis attracts fewer players.

 

“To overcome this problem, we have started the Junior Tennis Initiative program to train children at minimum cost,” Jyoti says. “This seems to be bearing fruit as we now have children starting tennis at a very young age. Of them, we can select a few with strong potential for further training.”

 

But many young potential national play­ers have quit tennis to give more time to their studies or have gone abroad for further studies. “Players also quit because it is difficult sport to rise up,” Mahika says, “You need to win a lot of games to reach the top. The players who have reached the top find it difficult to lose and move down the rankings.”

 

The Ranas sisters, howev­er, seem to be determined to con­tinue playing tennis professionally for the country. The two, who study A levels at the British School, prac­tice every day after school. With internation­al tennis stars Serena Williams and Roger Federer as inspirations for Mahika and Maynka respectively, the duo wants to make it big in international tennis events. When asked where they see them­selves 10 years down the line, they reply in unison, “Playing at the WTA [Women’s Tennis Association, the main body responsible for inter­national women’s tennis] tourna­ments. And if we get better, maybe we’ll be playing in the Grand Slams too.”

 

Playing together in the doubles format and against each other in the singles category, the Rana sisters have participated in many nation­al and international tournaments, including the 2014 Asian Games held in South Korea. They are once again representing Nepal in the 2018 Asian Games, slated to be held in Indo­nesia from August 18 to September 2. Currently, the Rana sisters are representing Nepal at the Raipur ITF Juniors and playing directly in the Main Draw without having to play the qualifiers because they have received international ranking.

 

“I am going to the US to play col­lege tennis,” Mayanka says, “I have been selected in a program at Saint Leo University, Florida where I will be studying business as well as hon­ing my tennis skills.” Mahika wants to follow suit and is working on her college application, and hopes to get into the same university. But are they leaving the country for good, like many others? “No,” they reply in unison again, “we are going there because they have better resources and many competitive tournaments.

 

“We might stay there and represent Nepal in international tour­naments and come back whenever we are required to,” they say. Their next target? The SAF Games that Nepal is hosting in 2019.