Billie Jean King Cup: Sania, Ankita to lead India's charge in World Group play-offs against Latvia

Star player Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina will lead India's charge in the Billie Jean King Cup World Group play-off tie against Latvia in April.

Star player Sa Mirza and Ankita Raina will lead India's charge in the Billie Jean King Cup World Group play-off tie against Latvia in April.

India's maiden Billie Jean King Cup play-off tie against Latvia will be held on April 16 and 17.

Rutuja Bhosale, Zeel Desai, and Karman Kaur Thandi are the other three tennis players selected to represent India for the play-off tie. Riya Bhatia has been named a reserve player.

Team India was promoted to the World Group Play-offs of the Billie Jean King Cup last year after finishing second in the Asia/Ocea Group I event, beating Uzbekistan, Korea Republic, Chinese Taipei, and Indonesia.

China topped the regional group event and will be facing the Netherlands in an away tie. Vishal Uppal, who led the Indian side to its historic maiden promotion to World Group, will continue as the captain.

The World Group Play-offs will feature 16 nations--- eight losing teams from the Qualifiers and eight promoted teams from regional Group I events -- four teams from Europe/Africa Group I, two teams from Americas Group I, two teams from Asia/Ocea Group I.

The winners of the play-offs will progress to the qualifiers and losers will compete in respective regional Group I event in 2022.

Earlier this month, Sa and her partner Andreja Klepac of Slovenia crashed out of the Qatar Total Open after facing a defeat in the semi-final.

Sa, who was competing in her first tournament in more than 12 months, marked her return to tennis with a credible semi-final finish in the showpiece event before making a winning return to the WTA circuit.

( With inputs from ANI )