Somdev, Yuki may return; Hesh-Bops unlikely
23 Feb 2013 1:56 AM GMT
Top singles players Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri are likely to return to the Indian Davis Cup team as the national selectors meet to pick the squad for the tie against Indonesia, on Saturday.
In the absence of 11 top players, India had lost the Asia/Oceania Group I first round tie against South Korea 1-4 earlier this month.
The players ended their rebellion for the time being and made themselves available for the Indonesia tie after AITA agreed to improve the playing conditions and gave all the offers in writing.
The selection committee is unlikely to overlook Somdev although he is fifth-highest ranked Indian player at 354.
Somdev had beaten world number 39 Benoit Paire of France in an ongoing ATP event in France.
Yuki is highest-ranked Indian player in singles at 257 so he is likely to return to the squad. He has not lived up to expectations after a sparkling career in junior circuit but he is one player, who is considered India’s future in singles along with Somdev. Yuki had won both his singles in the relegation play-off tie against New Zealand in September 2012 in Chandigarh.
For the doubles, the selection committee will stick with Leander Paes but it would be interesting to see if Purav Raja is retained.
Raja had supported Paes well in the tie against Korea, as the two registered the only victory for India.
AITA SETS UP PANEL TO SEEK ANSWERS
The AITA appointed three-member committee to look into players issue had its first meeting and observed that players-friendly conditions should prevail and for that it would seek help of both the Federation and the government. The committee, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge justice Deepak Verma, had a look at the correspondence between the 11-member rebel group and the All India Tennis Association (AITA) in the last few weeks. The committee, also including former Indian tennis player Nresh Kumar and retired bureaucrat M C Gupta, will next meet on March 16 in New Delhi. “A meeting may be scheduled in Bengaluru to facilitate interactions with the players who will be present for the Davis Cup tie,” an AITA release said. “The Committee observed that it would like to have a player friendly condition and would seek not only the help of the AITA but will also seek help of the government,” the AITA release added.
ROHAN BOPANNA-FLEMING IN SEMIS OF OPEN 13
Rohan Bopanna and his British partner Colin Fleming fought their way to the semifinals of the ATP Open 13, edging past James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin, here.The second seeded Indo-American pair overcame a stiff resistance from the American-Canadian pair for 6-3 6-7(2) 10-7 win in the quarter-finals of the euro 528,135 hard court event. Bopanna and Fleming next face third seeded pair of Austria’s Julian Knowle and Slovakia’s Filip Polasek, who had an easy 6-4 6-2 win over Jerzy Janowicz and Frederik Nielsen. India’s singles challenge had ended with the defeat of Somdev Devvarman, who went down fighting against Australia’s Bernad Tomic in the second round.
In the absence of 11 top players, India had lost the Asia/Oceania Group I first round tie against South Korea 1-4 earlier this month.
The players ended their rebellion for the time being and made themselves available for the Indonesia tie after AITA agreed to improve the playing conditions and gave all the offers in writing.
The selection committee is unlikely to overlook Somdev although he is fifth-highest ranked Indian player at 354.
Somdev had beaten world number 39 Benoit Paire of France in an ongoing ATP event in France.
Yuki is highest-ranked Indian player in singles at 257 so he is likely to return to the squad. He has not lived up to expectations after a sparkling career in junior circuit but he is one player, who is considered India’s future in singles along with Somdev. Yuki had won both his singles in the relegation play-off tie against New Zealand in September 2012 in Chandigarh.
For the doubles, the selection committee will stick with Leander Paes but it would be interesting to see if Purav Raja is retained.
Raja had supported Paes well in the tie against Korea, as the two registered the only victory for India.
AITA SETS UP PANEL TO SEEK ANSWERS
The AITA appointed three-member committee to look into players issue had its first meeting and observed that players-friendly conditions should prevail and for that it would seek help of both the Federation and the government. The committee, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge justice Deepak Verma, had a look at the correspondence between the 11-member rebel group and the All India Tennis Association (AITA) in the last few weeks. The committee, also including former Indian tennis player Nresh Kumar and retired bureaucrat M C Gupta, will next meet on March 16 in New Delhi. “A meeting may be scheduled in Bengaluru to facilitate interactions with the players who will be present for the Davis Cup tie,” an AITA release said. “The Committee observed that it would like to have a player friendly condition and would seek not only the help of the AITA but will also seek help of the government,” the AITA release added.
ROHAN BOPANNA-FLEMING IN SEMIS OF OPEN 13
Rohan Bopanna and his British partner Colin Fleming fought their way to the semifinals of the ATP Open 13, edging past James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin, here.The second seeded Indo-American pair overcame a stiff resistance from the American-Canadian pair for 6-3 6-7(2) 10-7 win in the quarter-finals of the euro 528,135 hard court event. Bopanna and Fleming next face third seeded pair of Austria’s Julian Knowle and Slovakia’s Filip Polasek, who had an easy 6-4 6-2 win over Jerzy Janowicz and Frederik Nielsen. India’s singles challenge had ended with the defeat of Somdev Devvarman, who went down fighting against Australia’s Bernad Tomic in the second round.
Next Story
