ASTANA (KAZAKHSTAN), Feb 9: India ended its campaign at the Fed Cup with a fourth place finish after losing the classification tie 1-2 to Korea as the team badly missed injured Karman Kaur Thandi, who did not play on Saturday.
Captain Vishal Uppal handed national champion Mahak Jain her Fed Cup debut after a groin strain forced Karman out of the tie.
The diminutive Mahak played her heart out before losing steam towards the end for a 2-6, 6-3, 1-6 defeat against Na Ri Kim.
Like on many occasions, Ankita came out to level the tie as she outplayed Sunam Jiong 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 18 minutes.
The doubles became decisive but Ankita and Prarthana Thombare lost the close rubber 4-6, 4-6 to the Korean team of Su Jeong Jang and Kim.
Captain Uppal said India had a good chance to win this tie.
�Big learning curve for Mahak today. She could have won this match but she dropped off at the start of the third set which you cannot afford to do against a good player,� Uppal told PTI.
Ankita dominated her match and we could have won 2-0 today or even 2-1 had Karman been fit enough to play.�
Uppal said future was bright for the Indian Fed Cup team players. � PTI