Yashwant Sinha expressed displeasure over Rohan Bopanna's decision to opt out of the upcoming Davis Cup tie.
Country's highest ranked singles player Rohan Bopanna trails his Japanese counterpart Kei Nishikori by more than 200 rungs but India's Davis Cup captain Leander Paes is confident the hosts will put up a brave fight in the upcoming Asia-Oceania Group-I tie starting in New Delhi on April 11.
Somdev Devvarman routed world number 59 Yen-Hsun Lu 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 to steer India to the third round of the Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup competition as the stunning victory gave the visitors an unassailable 3-1 lead against Chinese Taipei in Kaohsiung on Sunday. India will now play the winners of the other second round tie between Australia and Thailand in May to qualify for the World Group play-offs.
The doubles specialist made the team at the expense of Prakash Amritraj, who was rendered ineligible after the new sports policy that bars foreign passport holders from representing the country. Amritraj holds a United States passport.
An Indian tennis team sans Sania Mirza completed a dubious hat-trick of defeats in the Fed Cup following a 0-3 loss to Uzbekistan in the Asia/Oceania Group I round-robin match in Perth on Friday. As a result, the Indians will now play Chinese Taipei in the relegation play-off on Saturday. With Friday's defeat, India finished last in the four-team Pool A, having also lost 0-3 in the earlier two matches -- against New Zealand and Indonesia -- as well.
Hong Kong have withdrawn from their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan in Islamabad citing security concerns, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said.
India's Davis Cup tie against Pakistan at Islamabad next month has been postponed to November under "exceptional circumstances" after a security review, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Thursday.
Vivek Shokeen and Somdev Dev Varman were named in the team to face Uzbekistan the Asia-Oceania Group 1 first round away tie.
Honours were even at the end of the opening day in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup match between India and Uzbekistan after Rohan Bopanna won the first singles.
Somdev Dev Varman will be looking to repay the team's faith in him when he makes his Davis Cup debut for India against Uzbekistan.
India were beaten 1-2 by New Zealand in their second match of the Asia/Oceania Group I Federation Cup match in Bangkok, on Thursday.
The ace Indian duo said the young Uzbekistan team will be tough to beat in the Asia Oceania Group One Davis Cup semi-final.
Harsh Mankad said that there was no pressure on Leander Paes to play the singles in the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan
Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Harsh Mankad are the other members of the team for the April 4-6 Davis Cup tie in Kolkata.
Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj play the opening singles against Korea in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I first round tie.
He marked his return to the Davis Cup arena with an emphatic win as India tied Kazakhstan 1-1 at the end of first day's play.
They beat Uzbekistan's Farrukh Dustov and Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1 first round tie.
He was included in the Davis Cup team for the Asia Oceania Group 1 tie against New Zealand from February 6 to 8.
In an email to the ITF on Monday, AITA chief Hironmoy Chatterjee said India had full confidence the ITF and Pakistan Tennis Federation would organise an "excellent" Asia/Oceania Group 1 tie but said more security checks might be in order.
Instead he is fielding youngsters Harsh Mankad and Prakash Amritraj in the Asia-Oceania group I Davis Cup tie against China.
Ankita Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthy are the other two members of the team that will be coached by Enrico Piperno.
India's Davis Cup captain will, however, not take New Zealand lightly in the weekend tie.
India's non-playing captain, however, refused to write off Japan in the Davis Cup match.
Former captain Ramesh Krishnan said the onus was on Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna to do well in Davis Cup.
India were today drawn to play New Zealand at home in their next Davis Cup tie in the Asia/Oceania Group I competition, which is scheduled for February 3-5. It was after beating New Zealand 3-2 in an away tie that India qualified for the World Group Play-offs in 2015 season. India are back in the Asia Oceania zone after being whitewashed by five-time champions Spain in the World Group play-off tie.
The Indian ace said reaching the Australian Open mixed doubles final after a life-threatening brain lesion was a dream come true.
Hammad Albalawi, head of Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid unit, said his country welcomes all visitors, including LGBTQ people and their bid to host the 48-team showpiece event has nothing to do with 'sportswashing' their human rights record.
Harsh Mankad and Prakash Amritraj won the reverse singles to help India beat Uzbekistan 5-0 and qualify for the World Group Playoffs
India took an unassailable 3-0 lead against Uzbekistan by winning the doubles event in the second round of the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Tennis tournament.
India's Davis Cup captain says it will be tough to decide the two slots between Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad and him for the match against Uzbekistan.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Monday agreed with the safety concerns in Islamabad, raised by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and moved the Nov 29-30 tie out of Pakistan's capital city.
The second singles between Prakash Amritraj and Wang Yu had to be called off for the day following repeated rain interruptions.
India captain Leander Paes and coach Nandan Bal are confident of winning the Davis Cup tie against China beginning on March 4.
India will be led by newly-crowned world number one Sania Mirza as 11 nations will strive to get promotion to Asia/Oceania Group I when the Fed Cup tennis competition begins in Hyderabad.
The draw for the Davis Cup tie against Japan pits Paes against Takao Suzuki in other singles.
