Tennis: India's Fed Cup squad announced

New Delhi  :  India's women's tennis squad for the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 event was announced on Saturday.

Ankita Raina, Karman Kaun Thandi, Pranjala Yadlapalli and Prarthana Thombare are part of the squad that will compete in the event, to be held between February 7 to 10 at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium.

Rutuja Bhosle and Zeel Desai have been kept as reserves.

Ace doubles specialist Sania Mirza is not part of the group as she is bogged down by a right knee injury, due to which she will also miss the Australia Open.

Ankita Bhambri will play the role of captain and coach.

A total of eight teams will compete in the event. The teams will be divided in two pools. The two pool winners will face a play-off to determine the nation advancing to the World Group II Play-offs.

The four nations finishing last and second last in their pools took part in relegation play-offs, with the two losing nations being relegated to Group II for 2019.

Apart from India, other teams are Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Japan, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea.