Paes and Bopanna to feature in India's crucial Davis Cup tie

ByAmlan Majumdar, SportsCafe Editor

07/01/2016

India’s most capped Davis Cup player Leander Paes has been named in the squad, along with his Olympics partner Rohan Bopanna, for the 2nd round of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tie against South Korea. However, singles players Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri will miss out due to injuries.

Paes had made himself unavailable for Davis Cup duties at the start of the year, in order to concentrate on what could be his last Olympic Games. The Davis Cup tie would be played one month before the Rio Games. However, it appears the 43-year-old will now use this tournament to work on his doubles partnership with Rohan Bopanna, after all the pandemonium that was created by the duo prior to the announcement of India's men's doubles pairing for the upcoming Rio Olympics.

Somdev Devvarman, who is yet to recover from his foot injury, has been left out of the squad, along with Yuki Bhambri, who is also suffering from a knock. The former's absence could prove to be a huge blow for India in this tie. Grass has been picked as the surface for this tie, probably because of Devvarman’s absence, who is predominantly a hard-court player.

“India is playing against Korea Republic in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 – 2nd Round Tie at Chandigarh Club from 15th to 17th July 2016. Yuki Bhambri’s injury has not healed and he has opted out for this Davis Cup Tie.

"The Indian Team will be as under:-

1) Saketh Myneni

2) Ramkumar Ramanathan

3) Rohan Bopanna

4) Leander Paes

“Reserve:

1) J. Vishnu Vardhan

2) Sumit Nagal

Non Playing Captain: Mr Anand Amritraj

Coach: Mr Zeeshan Ali” - Read the press release by the All India Tennis Association.