Bhambri injury blow for Indian Davis Cup team

India's in-form Yuki Bhambri suffered a minor abdominal tissue tear and will be forced to sit out the David Cup tie against China.

Yuki Bhambri in action during the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai.

The country’s No.1 tennis player, Yuki Bhambri, has withdrawn from the forthcoming Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group-1 tie against China, owing to injury.

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"Yuki has written to me saying that he has a minor tear in the abdomen apart from impingement in the shoulder. The ATP physio has advised him to be totally off tennis for 10 days, followed by the rehab,’’said the secretary general of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), Hironmoy Chatterjee.

The 28-year-old Prajnesh Gunneswaran, ranked 246 in the world, walks into the team as replacement, and joins Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal.

The doubles department will be handled by Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes, in the two-day tie which will be played on best of three sets format in Tianjin, on April 6 and 7.

"Following Yuki’s mail, I had a telephonic chat with the selectors and it was decided to get Prajnesh into the team,’’ Chatterjee said.