Yuki Bhambri doubtful for Davis Cup tie against Korea after leg strain

New Delhi, India's Yuki Bhambri is a doubtful starter for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Korea in Seoul after suffering a right-leg strain during practice ahead of his US Open main draw match.

Bhambri did not travel to Seoul with the first batch of Indian players that left on Thursday night, adding uncertainty over his availability for the crucial tie, where the winner will seal place in elite 8-team Davis Cup Finals.

The 32-year-old termed the injury a minor strain and assured that there was no threat to his Asian Games participation later this month.

"This happened before the main draw match during practice. This is a minor strain. There is no timeline set for my recovery but there is nothing major," Bhambri told PTI.

Bhambri is being monitored on a day-to-day basis and is consulting the Indian Davis Cup team support staff, including Debashish Das and Yash Pandey, to assess his recovery.

"There is still pain. It's a day-by-day situation, we will see how it goes," he said.

The injury, though, is not expected to jeopardise Bhambri's participation in the Asian Games.

"I am competing in the Asian Games one hundred percent. We will see if we can recover for Davis Cup," he said.

In case Bhambri is unable to recover in time, India could explore alternative combinations in doubles, with N Sriram Balaji and singles specialist Dhakshineswar Suresh a possible combination among the options.

Siddharth Rawat and Arnav Paparkar are reserve players in the squad but they are singles players.

According to AITA sources, left-handed Anirudh Chandrasekar has already been asked to link up with the squad in Seoul as per captain Rohit Rajpal's request. He already has a Korea visa.

AITA has also applied visa for Niki Poonacha.

"We are good enough to beat Korea in doubles and there is no dearth of doubels options in India," said Bhambri.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.