Billie Jean King Cup (previously Fed Cup) - India

[ornatebrute]

Pacific Oceania wasn't a surprise given Abigail Tere-Apisah was in form.

[Saniapower]

Ankita can play better. Karman needs to cut down her unforced errors and double faults. These are just too many at the moment.

[jaydeep]

The Fed Cup team has also announced for the Asia-Oceania Group-1, which will be played in Astana, Kazakhstan, in the first week of February ... No surprises, as our top four singles players get selected for the tournament with our top doubles player, Prarthana Thombare.

The Indian Fed Cup Team
Ankita Raina, Karman Thandi, Pranjala Yadlapalli, Rutuja Bhosale and Prarthana Thombare
Non-playing Captain: Vishaal Uppal
Coach: Ankita Bhambri

[sameerph]

Both Rutuja and Pranjala pulled out of the fed cup team due to injuries and are replaced by Mahak Jain and Riya Bhatia.

Mahak Jain to replace Rutuja Bhosale in Fed Cup team

Their injuries must be pretty serious for Rutuja and Pranjala to pull out a month before the tournament. Unfortunate when their career seem to be taking off to a higher level.

So, this is the team now-

Ankita Raina, Karman Thandi, Mahak Jain, Riya Bhatia and Prarthana Thombare
Non-playing Captain: Vishaal Uppal
Coach: Ankita Bhambri

[sameerph]

So, these are the pools for fed cup Asia Oceania group 1 to be held next week in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Pool A
India
Thailand
Kazakhstan

Pool B
Korea Republic
Indonesia
Pacific Oceania
China P.R.

And these are the team details from our group -

Kazakhstan: Yulia Putintseva, Zarina Diyas, Anna Danilina, Gozal Ainitdinova, Galina Voskoboeva
India: Ankita Raina, Karman Kaur Thandi, Mahak Jain, Riya Bhatia, Prarthana Thombare
Thailand: Peangtarn Plipuech, Punnin Kovapitukted, Nudnida Luangnam, Varunya Wongteanchai, Mananchaya Sawangkaew

Top team from each group will play against each other for promotion play off while third placed team from each group will play against each other for relegation play off. 4th placed team in Pool B will be automatically relegated.

So, it looks a shorter format this time. Only 3 matches (2 if we finish second in our pool). So, Ankita and Karman can probably take the load of playing both singles and doubles in those matches.

Thailand does not have their #1 player, Kumkhum in the squad. So, their 2 best singles players are ranked 286 and 656. A match we must win with Ankita and Karman. Kazakhstan have a top 50 player and a top 100 player in their midst. So, they will be difficult to beat at home.

[bujilover]

Man, it's almost impossible to beat such a strong KAZ squad. Diyas and Putintseva are both strong WTA players and Ankita alone cannot take care of them both. Not sure Karman is fit enough to win a match, yet and Mahak does not seem to be ready for top-100 challenge either.

Knowing that Ankita/Karman has more success in doubles than Ankita/Prarthana or any other combination, perhaps we should risk fielding Mahak as the #2 singles (at least for the Thai tie) and rest Karman for doubles.

[IndiaSports]

Beating Kazakhstan in Kazakhstan will be uphill task, in that case we have to make sure we win our tie against the Thai, who can be very tricky.
So we need our best players Ankita and Karman in both singles and doubles, no need for unnecessary risk, Mahak is not ready yet, i think.
And fitness is not that much of a concern for Karman, she can handle two matches a day, concerned about her lack of match practice though.

[arjun2761]

IIRC Ankita beat Puntintseva the last time they played in the Fed Cup, so there is a slight chance of an upset if we can also pull out the doubles.

[sameerph]

Matches started today but did not have a match today. In our group Kazakhstan easily Thailand today.
We play tomorrow against Thailand in our first match. Hope it ends in an easy win.

This is a nice photograph of our team at an official dinner with Indian high commissioner in Kazakhstan -

[jayakris]

Wow, the ladies look beautiful!

[sameerph]

We though Kazakhstan match will be tough for us but we are in trouble in first match itself against Thailand as Karman lost her match much lower ranked Luangnam and we are down 0-1.

[S1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,211) l. Nundnida Luangnam (THA,712) 26 63 36

Now, it is upto Ankita to pull us back into this match.

[sameerph]

Ankita completes a comeback win to keep us alive.

[S2] Ankita Raina (IND,165) d. Peangtarn Plipuech (THA,297) 67(4) 62 64

So, it will be a deciding match in doubles with tie at 1-1.

[sameerph]

Ankita and Karman win the first set 6-4 against Luangnam and Plipuech.

[sameerph]

Ankita and Karman lose the second set 67(6). They had 2 tie points at 6-4 in the tie break but lost 4 straight points from there.

So, it goes to the third set. Thankfully, it is a full third set and not match tie break here. But, anyone can win from here.

[ankit1407]

We did win 7-5 in decider..