Billie Jean King Cup (previously Fed Cup) - India

[sameerph]

Earlier the nominations were announced. This was the summary for that from Fed cup official site -

Kazakhstan has named a strong team ahead of its bid to break into World Group II for the first time at the upcoming Asia/Oceania Zone Group I event in New Delhi.
The Kazakhs, who have twice reached the World Group II play-offs in 2013 and 2017, will be led by World No. 50 Yuliya Putintseva in India, with No. 60 Zarina Diyas, No. 411 Gozal Ainitdinova and No. 951 Zhibek Kulambayeva.

Japan has nominated world No. 98 Nao Hibino, No. 103 Kurumi Nara, No. 124 Miyu Kato and No. 603 Makoto Ninomiya as it seeks to escape Asia/Oceania Zone Group I for the first time since suffering relegation from World Group II in 2014.  

China P.R. will head to New Delhi with world No. 115 Zhu Lin, No. 158 Wang Yafan, No. 418  Yang Zhaoxuan and No. 1048 Xu Yifan in their ranks.

Having contested World Group II for the first time in their history last year, Chinese Taipei will bid to bounce straight back into the division after suffering immediate relegation. World No. 327 Lee Ya-Hsuan, No. 386 Hsu Chieh-Yu, No. 458 Lee Pei-Chi and No. 546 Hsu Ching-Wen will feature for Wang Shi-Ting’s side.

Hong Kong, China have named world No. 330 Zhang Ling, No. 765 Chong Eudice, No. 1020 Yau Ng Kwan and No. 1124 Ching Wu Ho in its team.

Host nation India will field world No. 259 Ankita Raina, No. 285 Karman Thandi, No. 480 Pranjala Yadlapalli and doubles world No. 130 Prarthana Thombare. India's best Fed Cup performance came in 2006 when they were the runners-up in Asia/Oceania Zone Group I.

Thailand will field world No. 123 Luksika Kumkhum, No. 235 Peangtam Plipuech, No. 501 Patcharin Cheapchandei and No. 567 Nicha Lertpitaksinchai.

Korea will have world No. 255 Na Lee Han, No. 441 Sunam Jeong, No. 444 Na-Ri Kim and No. 696 So-Ra Lee.

[sameerph]

Fed cup begins tomorrow in New Delhi. Pretty tough match for us first up against China tomorrow.

This is a brief preview-

All eyes on Ankita and Karman as Fed Cup challenge begins

Raina will lock horns with world number 120 Lin Zhu, to whom she had lost the title clash of the Luan event in May, last year.
Delhi-player Karman too did well in 2017, as twice she made the singles final apart from making a lot of semifinals at the USD 25,000 level tournaments.

She will open India's campaign against world number 125 Wang Yafan.

[vishalg]

Does anyone have the exact schedule?

[sameerph]

I think the matches start at 10 am. No idea if there is any TV telecast on any channel for this.

Btw, this is the photograph of team India after official dinner which players have posted on their twitter handle -

[bujilover]

Pretty photo but I think ours is the only team that does not have a team outfit? Here are some samples: Fed Cup - Team Outfits

HKG's tennis has seen a huge upscale in performances with Rastogi's presence.It'd be interesting to see how India fares against Karan Rastogi's HKG team. Under his coaching, 15 yo. Hong Yi Cody Wong qualified for the main draw of AO Juniors and progressed to the R3 defeating 28th ranked Naito in R2 (although I don't see her in the team's playing list of 4).

[ornatebrute]

They do have the similar attire as did our boys, sponsored by Zeven. Rastogi-led Hong Kong had previously defeated India in a Group II tie in 2014. This time, I believe, will be a different story.

[S_K_S]

They all look stunningly beautiful. I am glad they are not wearing a team outfit because they in their choice of dresses they have represented India better than any team outfit ever could.

[vatsal323]

The tie is live on DD Sports!

[knarayen]

They all look stunningly beautiful. I am glad they are not wearing a team outfit because they in their choice of dresses they have represented India better than any team outfit ever could.

Agreed. I am all for the ladies choosing to wear traditional Indian dress rather than some drab uniform. They look sensational and this should get wider coverage in the tennis media!!

Prof

[sameerph]

The tie is live on DD Sports!

Thanks. I can only follow scores right now.

Karman seems to be getting outplayed by Yifan Wang. Lost the first set 2-6.

[sameerph]

Tame loss for Karman.

[S1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,284) l. Yafan Wang (CHN,125) 26 26

Yafan Wang is a very good player who had reached SF of WTA Taipei open last week. But, still expected better fight from Karman at home.

[sameerph]

Ankita has taken the first set 6-3 against world # 120 Lin Zhu. Can she pull off a big upset here ?

[Omkara]

Good job. Now finish it

[vishalg]

She did finish it off. I saw parts of second set and Ankita was pretty solid from the baseline. She returned almost everything and forced the Chinese to make errors.

On to doubles now.

[sameerph]

Excellent upset win.

[S2] Ankita Raina (IND,253) d. Lin Zhu (CHN,120) 63 62

Ankita brings us back in the tie.

I suppose Ankita will return along with Prarthana for doubles.