New Delhi, Mar 16 (IANS): Veteran tennis star Sania Mirza and the country's top-ranked women's singles and doubles player Ankita Raina will lead India in the Billie Jean King Cup World Group playoff tie against Latvia. The tie is set to be held on April 16 and 17 in Jurmala, Latvia.
Former Davis Cup player Vishal Uppal will remain captain of the team. India were promoted to the World Group playoffs last year after finishing second in the Asia/Oceania Group I event, beating Uzbekistan, Korea Republic, Chinese Taipei and Indonesia.
China topped the regional group event and will be facing Netherlands in an away tie.
The World Group playoffs will feature 16 nations -- eight losing teams from the qualifiers and eight promoted teams from regional Group I events -- with four teams from Europe/Africa Group I, two teams from Americas Group I, two teams from Asia/Oceania Group I. The winners of the playoffs will progress to the qualifiers and losers will compete in respective regional Group I event in 2022.
India squad: Sania Mirza, Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale, Zeel Desai, Karman Kaur Thandi, Riya Bhatia (Reserve)