At age 13, Sanaya represented the Soviet Union at the 1972 European Championships in Gothenburg, where she placed 23rd, and at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, where she ranked 18th. The following season, she finished 11th at the 1973 European Championships in Cologne and 16th at the 1973 World Championships in Bratislava. Her coaches included Nina Zhuk, Sergei Chetverukhin, and Aleksandr Gorelik.