Team India maybe the whipping girls in the U15 Women’s Softball Asia Cup at the Fu-Hsing Softball Stadium in Puli Township, Nantou, Chinese Taipei, but two players – the Goka twins -Sravika and Sathvika – have got the attention of many.
Sravika, the elder of the 14-year-old twins by minutes, is the pint sized catcher, while her sister Sathvika, who is taller, is the first choice pitcher.
Daughters of rice and vegetable farmer parents, hails from Telangana state in the Nizamabad district in South India, they picked up the game at their boarding school Tswreis G Suddapally, four years ago when their coach Ganga Mohan introduced them to the game.
Here in Puli, although India have lost five consecutive games and have one last match against Singapore tomorrow, battling to avoid the bottom spot of seven teams competing here, coaches Vijay Kumar Lakshmipathi and Savita Parekhe are proud of their team for performing beyond expectations with minimum training, lack equipment and facilities and two of their top players unable to travel because they did not have their passports.
“Both Sravika and Sathvika, were indeed stand-by players, who replaced the two who did not make it, but they have done well in their debut international,” said Vijay.
“ The team as whole have done well having lost strong teams like Japan (10-0), Korea (10-0) and Philippines (6-0) with scores which we can be proud of as we expected to be thrashed.”
India lost to Hong Kong narrowly 1-2 and lost to Chinese Taipei by a big margin of 16-0.
As for Sravika and Sathvika, they said they were not intimated by the bigger and more experienced opponents.
“We were happy to have come here to gain international exposure and just gave our best shot and learn many things,” said Sravika the pint sized catcher.
“We are village girls and this exposure will indeed make us better players,” added Sathviva.
The 14 graders said it is their ambition one day to represent the senior national softball team.
“It is going to be a long term process and we have a great deal to learn and be exposed to high level games, but we are prepared to work hard to achieve our dreams,” said Sravika.
Sathiva chipped in that they also want to become softball coaches in the future to promote the game further in India.
Coach Savita said that she has coached the Indian softball national team of various age-groups and national team for seven times, and this was the first time they have twins in the team.
“They maybe replacements in the team, but they have earned their spots on merit and their performance here clearly underlines that they are here on merit.”
Vijay added although softball is fast catching on and is popular in India, it is difficult to develop because of lack of facilities and equipment and also the dialect barrier.
“As a coach I speak I speak four dialects – Tamil, Hindi, Telegu and Malayalam – and English, and still have problems to transfer the knowledge,” said Vijay.
“We are trying our best hope India will be able to close up the gap with the other top nations in Asia.”
Credit to India, they make it a point to compete in almost all Softball Asia tournaments to be exposed and develop their game.
Sravika and Sathvika thanked their first coach Mogan for introducing them to the game and their parents for the support.
“Without their support, we will not be here,” said Sravika, who are second with her sister in then family.
They have an older sister (18) – Tejaswini – who is not involved in sports, but their younger brother (11) – Ravi Teja – plays cricket.
This is probably not the last time, the Asian softball fraternity will hear or see of the Goka twins.