Fed Cup: India grouped with tough Kazakhstan, China
The fourth team in Pool A is Hong Kong. Pool B comprises Chinese Taipei, Japan, Thailand and Korea.
Published : Jan 15, 2018 21:06 IST
India was on Monday clubbed with the formidable Kazakhstan, which has World No. 54 Yuliya Putintseva in its rank, and China for the Asia/Oceania Group I competition in Fed Cup, scheduled to be held here from February 7-10.
The fourth team in Pool A is Hong Kong. Pool B comprises Chinese Taipei, Japan, Thailand and Korea.
Kazakhstan, which has twice reached the World Group II play-offs in 2013 and 2017, has named a strong team for the event.
Apart from Putintseva it also has World No. 60 Zarina Diyas, Gozal Ainitdinova (411) and Zhibek Kulambayeva (951).
India will be represented by Ankita Raina (267), Karman Kaur Thandi (287), Pranjala Yadlapalli (482) and Prarthana Thombare (130 in doubles).
China has named World No. 114 Zhu Lin, Wang Yafan (157), Yang Zhaoxuan (418) and Xu Yifan in its rank.
Hong Kong will be led by Zhang Ling (330), Chong Eudice (765). The other members of the team are Yau Ng Kwan and Ching Wu Ho.
The winner of each pool will play off against one another to determine which nation advances to the World Group II play-offs, scheduled for April 2018.
The teams that finish third in each pool will play off against the nations finishing fourth in the other pool (A3 v B4 and B3 v A4).
The two losers will be relegated to Asia/Oceania II in 2019.