Davis Cup: Somdev to lead India’s challenge against Japan
August 19th, 2011 - 7:02 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) India Friday retained the same squad that lost the World Group Davis Cup tie to Serbia in March for the play-off against Japan Sep 16-18 in Tokyo.
Somdev Devvarman will lead the challenge with Rohan Bopanna as the second singles player and Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi teaming up for the doubles. Karan Rastogi and Vishnu Vardhan are the other members of the squad.
A meeting of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection committee, chaired by Anil Dhupar and attended by Rohit Rajpal and Balram Singh, met here Thursday to select the squad.
Former Davis Cupper and now non-playing captain S.P. Misra said the top Indian players are all in good touch and there is no reason why they should not beat Japan.
Misra, the co-chairman of the selection committee, could not come to Delhi for the meeting but took part in the deliberations in a tele-conference.
Misra told IANS from Hyderabad that the Indians should be happy to be playing the tie on hard court and outdoors, though the top three Japanese players are doing well on the Tour.
“Japan’s leading player Kei Nishikori is ranked in the 50s (his current ranking is 52)and there is little to choose between him and Somdev. The other top Japanese singles players Tatsuma Ito and Go Soeda are hovering around 100 in the rankings and doing well on the circuit. But a Davis Cup tie is a different ball game and rankings scarcely matter in five-set rubbers.”
Ito is currently ranked 128 and Soeda 123 whereas Bopanna is essentially a doubles player with a career-best ranking of nine while he is in the 600s in the singles. The Indian, however, is in the squad as singles player with a decent Davis Cup record.
Karan Rastogi is fresh from winning an ITF Futures at Astana, Kazakhstan, over the weekend. He beat Egyptian Mohamed Safwat 6-1, 6-2 after winning a tough semi-final against Czech Republic’s third seed Roman Jebavy 7-6(6), 6-4.
India and Japan have clashed 21 times with India way ahead head-to-head winning 18 of the ties. When they met last in the Asia-Oceania Group I semifinal in New Delhi, India beat them 3-2 in 2008.
India lost to Japan when they met last in Osaka in 2004, but in 2001 they beat them in Tokyo.
India lost their last World Group first round tie to Serbia 1-4 at Novi Sad and are back to qualifiers.
The Team: Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Karan Rastogi and Vishnu Vardhan
Non-Playing Captain: S.P. Misra
- Davis Cup: Somdev to spearhead India's challenge against Serbia - Jan 29, 2011
- Mahesh Bhupathi opts out of Davis Cup tie - Mar 06, 2012
- Davis Cup: Somdev happy with weather and courts - Sep 15, 2011
- Paes to miss Davis Cup tie against Japan - Sep 13, 2011
- India to play Japan in Davis Cup World Group play-off - Jul 13, 2011
- Somdev's strained shoulder makes him doubtful for reverse singles - Sep 17, 2011
- India relegated, Japan through to Davis Cup World Group(Lead) - Sep 18, 2011
- Davis Cup: Somdev and Bopanna outclassed, India go 0-2 down - Sep 16, 2011
- I pushed Nishikori to step-up his game: Vardhan - Sep 18, 2011
- Somdev to lead Indian challenge in Davis Cup, CWG - Aug 13, 2010
- Aircel to sponsor Indian Davis Cup team - Sep 09, 2011
- Davis Cup: India have a tough battle against Serbia - Mar 03, 2011
- Somdev slips 19 places to 89 - Sep 26, 2011
- Davis Cup: India pull off stunning win against Brazil - Sep 19, 2010
- Somdev, Sania to lead India's challenge in Asian Games tennis - Oct 22, 2010
Tags: aita, cupper, davis cup tie, doubles player, japanese players, japanese singles, karan rastogi, kei nishikori, leander paes, mahesh bhupathi, misra, rohan bopanna, rohit rajpal, safwat, singles player, singles players, somdev devvarman, tele conference, tour japan, vishnu vardhan