India pulled one back in the Davis Cup Asia-Ocenia Group I tie against South Korea in Changwon on Saturday, when Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won the doubles.

The ace Indian doubles pair beat Kwon-Oh Hee and Jun Woong-Sun 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to narrow Korea's lead to 2-1.

Korea had won the opening singles on Friday to gain a 2-0 lead.

World number 677 Hee-Seok Chung had put the Koreans ahead, beating the 232-ranked Rohan Bopanna 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening rubber.

Prakash Amritraj then had no answer to Hyung-Taik Lee's all-round superiority and lost 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 in the second singles.

The reverse singles will played on Sunday.

Coming together for the tie, Paes-Bhupathi started off on a positive note, winning the first set with ease. However, Oh-Hee and Sun got their act together and capitalised on the errors of their opponents to fight back and bag the second set in no time.

With the scores levelled at one-set all, Paes and Bhupathi clung on to their aggressive brand of tennis to race to a 5-0 lead in the third set.

The Koreans showed some resistance to win three games but they had no answer to the Indians' net coverage and fine sync with each other.

 The last set turned out to be a sort of cakewalk for the visitors who cruised ahead until Oh-Hee and Sun effected a break in the sixth game.

However, the confident Indians broke back in the very next game with Bhupathi holding on his serve to wrap up the match in style.

India, who have lost all the three previous Davis Cup rubbers hosted by South Korea, now need to win both the reverse singles to qualify to the next round of the tournament.