BJK Cup: India look to surmount injuries in yet another playoff push

New Delhi: India were dealt multiple blows days before the Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 round robin matches in New Delhi from 7-11 April.

Shrivalli Bhamidipaty picked up a back spasm and Vaidehee Chaudhari twisted her ankle during the practice on Thursday. Zeel Desai, who was playing a W15 tournament in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier called Aurangabad), decided to give a walkover in the semi-final stage and answer to non-playing captain Vishal Uppal's call.




"Excited to be here and be part of the Indian team. Obviously, I am sad that one of the teammates got injured, I wish her recovery. To play for your country is a privilege," said Zeel on the eve of the competition in Delhi. "I am very excited for it and I'm sure we are all going to go on the court and give our best," she continued.

Uppal said the injury-induced changes came days in advance which allowed the team to make the necessary changes. Zeel was brought in as cover for Vaidehee, if her ankle injury didn't get better. As it turned out, things didn't improve for the 455th-ranked player. She has now left Team India camp and begun her recovery process.

"We knew about her (Shrivalli) injury before this week started, so we had already factored that in and made the necessary changes to our plans that we needed to. And we have enough depth in our squad and I believe in these five girls sitting next to me that they have what it takes for us to qualify (for the playoffs)," said Uppal who is into his second term as the team's non-playing captain.

The responsibility of leading India's charge towards a third playoffs in six years is on India No. 1 Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalappalli, Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale and Desai.

Adkar, 21, climbed to top of the India singles charts on Monday and is expected to make her debut for the national team over the coming week. The Punekar earned her maiden call-up to the competition after a breakthrough run to the final of a W100 event in Bengaluru -- the first by an Indian woman in over a decade and also clinched an ITF title earlier this season.

But the lack of strong singles options, with Adkar the highest ranked at No. 383, makes the doubles rubber extremely important.

"It's an honour to be on this team representing the country. And it makes it even more special because all of us are on the same team. It's very rare that we get to play on the same team and all of us are on the same side of the net. So it's really a privilege to be on the same team and all of these girls. And we're just looking forward to all the matches,” she said.

To be played in a round robin format, India will get their challenge underway on Tuesday against Thailand. The other countries in the group are New Zealand, Indonesia, Republic of Korea and Mongolia. The top two teams after the week's competition will progress to the playoffs.

Uppal played the cards close to his chest as far as his strategy and nominations are concerned. He emphasised that multiple options at his disposal reflects the depth of women's tennis in India.

“If I have a problem picking up players for a tie, then that's a good problem to have. That just tells me there's depth. So, I'm happy having that problem than having a problem where I don't have players.

"I think it's a good problem for me to have and that also shows the depth of women's tennis now. There are players, for example, Zeal was just playing a tournament last week and we asked her to come here and she came here to be with the team,” said the Delhi-groomed former player Uppal.



Squads:

India: Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaishnavi Adkar, Zeel Desai, Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale.

Indonesia: Janice Tjen, Priska Madelyn Nugroho, Anjali Kirana Junarto, Meydiana Laviola Reinnamah and Aldila Sutjiadi.

Korea: Sohyun Park, Eunhye Lee, Dayeon Back, BoYoung Jeong, Gaeul Jang.

Mongolia: Jargal Altansarnai, Khongorzul Aldarkhishig, Anu-Vjin Gantor, Oyungerel Khasbaatar.

New Zealand: Monique Barry, Valentina Ivanov, Aishi Das and Erin Routliffe.

Thailand: Patcharin Cheapchandej, Anchisa Chanta, Thasaporn Naklo, Peangtarn Plipuech and Kamonwan Yodpetch.

FORMAT OF THE BJK CUP

• Each team plays the other team once
• Each tie consists of three rubbers: 2 singles and 1 doubles match
• Will doubles be played if a team is leading 2-0 with singles wins? Yes since tiebreaks take into consideration the sets and games won also.
• The top two teams after five days of competition will get promoted to the playoffs (to be played in November 2026).

HOW TIE RANKINGS ARE DECIDED:

• Highest numbers of wins (ties won)
• If two teams are tied, their head-to-head record
• If no break still, the highest percentage of rubbers won
• If no break still, highest percentage of sets won
• If no break still, highest percentage of games won

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