Billie Jean King Cup (previously Fed Cup) - India

[sameerph]

Yes, It was a mistake to say China is 4th in women. Australia, Japan and China are probably at equal strength as top 3 and Kazakhs are 4th. Thailand and Chinese Taipei have 1 standout player each but their #2 players are below Ankita and Karman. So, I think with everyone at full strength and in good form, our matches with these 2 teams and Korea would be fighting ones and one can say these 4 teams are close between 5-8.

I agree about your point about junior pool. After Mahak there is a vacuum there. Currently our # 1 junior in girls is ranked 192. Junior pool appears weak in boys too. Hope that their some talented under 18 players who are not playing ITF juniors like RamK, Mukund or Manish who never played ITF juniors seriously.

[Atithee]

Given our junior pool has largely not translated into senior success, it might not be a bad thing. Of course, I’ve posted my theory on why our juniors do well at world level several times. I won’t repeat it here, but let’s just say that it’s not their superior abilities.

[sameerph]

Our team is announced for Asia Oceania group 1 event for 2020 and Sania Mirza is back in the team after 4 years.

This is our team-
Sania Mirza
Ankita Raina
Karman Kaur Thandi
Riya Bhatia
Rutuja Bhosale

Reserve player - Sowjanya Bavietti

Captain- Vishal Uppal

Coach- Ankita Bhambri

This will be played from 4-8 February, 2020 in Dongguan, China and the participating teams are China,Taiwan,India,Indonesia, South Korea and Uzbekistan.

Top 2 will be promoted and bottom 2 will be relegated.

To finish in top 2 will be tough. China is way too ahead of everyone else here. We should be able to beat Uzbekistan and Indonesia. So, it is the matches against Taiwan and Korea which we need to win to finish second. In terms of rankings, South Korea has 181st ranked Na-Lae Han an 320nd ranked Su Jeong Jang. So, similar level players as Ankita and Karman. So, if we pull out doubles with Sania, we have a very good chance against them. But, Taiwan has 32nd ranked in singles- Su-Wei Hsieh and 3 top 15 doubles players. So, we will have to play much above our ranking level to win against them.

[PKBasu]

Sania-Ankita should assure us of the doubles point against both (although Taiwan will be tight). Singles victories against Korea should be easy enough, the Taiwan match will be the real challenge.

[sameerph]

The venue for next week's ties has been moved from Dongguan, China to Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Host of sporting events are likely to be moved from China in next couple of month at least due to virus threat.

Why could we not host this event instead of Kazakhs who are not even playing in this as they are already in world group ?

[sameerph]

Now the tournament itself is postponed later with schedule to be decided by ITF after discussion with all participating nations. I guess it may be because the Chinese team is also due to participate here and they may be quarantined in their country.

[sameerph]

Now Fed Cup Asia Oceania Zone 1 event will be held in Dubai from March 3 to 7.

In a way it is good for our players that the event got postponed. It will give time for Sania and Karman to get fit. Karman seems to be playing ITF in Jodhpur too, So, that will be some time for match practice for them.

[sameerph]

So, it starts from this Tuesday and our team is already in Dubai.

These are the full team nominations -

China, P.R.
Qiang Wang
Shuai Zhang
Saisai Zheng
Shuai Peng
YiFan Xu
Captain Wei-Guang Yang (CHN)

Chinese Taipei
Su-Wei Hsieh
En Shuo Liang
Ya Yi Yang
Latisha Chan
Hao-Ching Chan
Captain Yi-Ning Wong (TPE)

India
Ankita Raina
Riya Bhatia
Rutuja Bhosale
Sania Mirza
Karman Kaur Thandi
Captain Vishal Uppal (IND)

Indonesia
Rifanty Kahfiani
Priska Madelyn Nugroho
Janice Tjen
Fitriana Sabrina
Fitriani Sabatini
Captain Deddy Tedjamukti (INA)

Korea, Rep.
Na-Lae Han
Su Jeong Jang
Sunam Jeong
Ji-Hee Choi
Na Ri Kim
Captain Young-Ja Choi (KOR)

Uzbekistan
Sabina Sharipova
Akgul Amanmuradova
Nigina Abduraimova
Yasmina Karimjanova
Sitora Normuradova
Captain Petr Lebed (UZB)

China has their best team available with 3 top 50 players. So, they are out of bounds for anyone to beat. Taiwan has Su Wei Heish who is ranked #53 in singles and will be ranked #1 in doubles next week. So, our players will have to pull off something great to pull off a win agains them and probably Korea too.

[sameerph]

These are the match-ups daywise -

Tuesday: CHN vs IND; KOR vs UZB; TPE vs INA
Wednesday: TPE vs KOR; IND vs UZB; CHN vs INA
Thursday: CHN vs TPE; IND vs KOR; INA vs UZB
Friday: CHN vs UZB; TPE vs IND; INA vs KOR
Saturday: CHN vs KOR; TPE vs UZB; IND vs INA

So, we have our toughest match today against China today. In a way it is good. Not much chance against China. So, better to get that match first-up.

In the meantime, Karman has pulled out due to injury. She is replaced by Sowjanya. Our second singles will be between Riya,Rutuja and Sowjanya.

[sameerph]

Rutuja lost 46 26 against 34th ranked Shuai Zhang. Decent performance by her.

Now Ankita has taken the first set 6-1 against 29th ranked Qiang Pang. Can she pull off the biggest win of her career ?

[jaydeep]

The expected loss against a higher-ranked Chinese team ... As mentioned, Rutuja gave a decent performance against her WR #35 opponent ... Ankita showed improvement in her game as she won the first set against the top-30 Qyang Wang, she lost the next 2 sets but gave a fighting performance.

At Fed Cup 2020 - Asia/ Oceania Group I, Dubai, UAE

Group A
India l China 0-3

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,433) l Shuai Zhang (CHN,35) 46 26
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,160) l Qiang Wang (CHN,29) 61 26 46
[R3] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Riya Bhatia (IND) l Shuai Peng (CHN)/ YiFan Xu (CHN) 06 16

[prasen9]

What is our best doubles combination with and without Sania? Ankita-Sania and Ankita-Rutuja?

[jaydeep]

You are right with a current team, but in Karman's presence, I feel Ankita-Karman is a better pair than Rutuja-Ankita/ Rutuja-Karman.

[sameerph]

Excellent fight by Ankita against a top 30 player. Sad that she could not pull off the win. It seems she had some health issues- she vomited twice during second set.

Hope she is okay as 4 tough matches to come and Ankita is key to our success.

Yesterday, Indonesia upset Taiwan while Korea beat Uzbekistan as expected.

We are up against Uzbekistan in a must win match today.

[prasen9]

If she was sick, after Rutuja lost, why play her today???