Yuki Bhambri opted out of the upcoming Davis Cup match against Korea Republic after failing to recover from an elbow injury. His withdrawal will hand Ramkumar Ramanathan his debut in men's tennis' premier international team event.
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.
Ramkumar Ramanthan played his heart out before losing a tight second round singles match while Purav Raja and Divij Sharan bowed out of the men's doubles in the first round of the qualifiers at Wimbledon on Thursday.
After being left out of the Davis Cup for the first time in 27 years, an angry Paes had on Thursday lashed out at Bhupathi, accusing his former partner of flouting selection criteria.
Yashwant Sinha expressed displeasure over Rohan Bopanna's decision to opt out of the upcoming Davis Cup 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.
Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni lost the do-or-die doubles rubber against Serbia as India conceded an unassailable 0-3 lead to lose the Davis World Group Play-off tie, in Kraljevo, Serbia on Saturday.
Vivek Shokeen and Somdev Dev Varman were named in the team to face Uzbekistan the Asia-Oceania Group 1 first round away tie.
Sania Mirza and Shikha Uberoi were named in the Fed Cup tie against Korea
Sania Mirza and Shikha Uberoi were named in the Fed Cup tie against Korea
World No 1 Sania Mirza was, on Monday, named captain of the Indian team for next year's Fed Cup while two six-member squads were announced by the AITA selection panel for the South Asian Games.
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.
Rohan Bopanna beat Jun Kato 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4 in the first reverse singles.
Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj play the opening singles against Korea in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I first round tie.
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
The list of international sporting events affected by a new virus outbreak in China grew on Wednesday with skiing World Cup races in Yanqing cancelled and Olympic women's football in Australia in doubt over concerns about athletes' safety. Badminton, tennis and basketball were among other sports whose governing bodies were rearranging events, weighing possible changes or monitoring the implications of the outbreak.
It left the players and the team management disappointed and after discussing the matter among themselves, they have decided to approach the federation.
Bhupathi's captaincy on line in Italy tie
Former captain Ramesh Krishnan said the onus was on Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna to do well in Davis Cup.
Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna won the doubles match 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to help India to a 1-0 lead against Kazakhstan.
Instead he is fielding youngsters Harsh Mankad and Prakash Amritraj in the Asia-Oceania group I Davis Cup tie against China.
Debutant Vivek Shokeen lost 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 to Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the opening Davis Cup rubber.
Ankita Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthy are the other two members of the team that will be coached by Enrico Piperno.
He was included in the Davis Cup team for the Asia Oceania Group 1 tie against New Zealand from February 6 to 8.
Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Harsh Mankad are the other members of the team for the April 4-6 Davis Cup tie in Kolkata.
Paes was dropped from the tie against Uzbekistan last April. He has been out of favour since the Bengaluru fiasco when he was not included in the starting line-up by captain, Mahesh Bhupathi.
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 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.
The Indian ace said reaching the Australian Open mixed doubles final after a life-threatening brain lesion was a dream come true.
