{"id":368606,"date":"2025-12-24T09:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T09:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/368606\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T09:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T09:53:09","slug":"sriram-balaji-dropped-for-qualifiers-against-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/368606\/","title":{"rendered":"Sriram Balaji dropped for Qualifiers against Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doubles veteran and Paris 2024 Olympian N Sriram Balaji has been dropped from the Indian tennis team for its upcoming Davis Cup 2026 Qualifiers tie against the Netherlands, scheduled in Bengaluru on February 7 and 8.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old Indian tennis player<\/a>, who has featured regularly in recent Davis Cup squads for India, was left out despite his vast experience as the selectors were looking to invest in long-term prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe selection committee felt it was time to look ahead. Sriram Balaji has been a very good servant for Indian tennis, but it was felt that he has become a bit soft and we need to groom players who can take the team forward,\u201d India\u2019s non-playing Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal told PTI, explaining the omission.<\/p>\n

With Balaji, who partnered Rohan Bopanna at the Paris 2024 Olympics, omitted, India\u2019s top-ranked doubles player Yuki Bhambri is expected to partner Rithvik Bollipalli.<\/p>\n

Sumit Nagal<\/a>, the country\u2019s top-ranked singles player at world No. 277, is also in the squad alongside Dhakshineswar Suresh and Karan Singh.<\/p>\n

The selection was made based on form, fitness, and the long-term vision of the team, the AITA noted.<\/p>\n

The reserve list for the tie comprises Aryan Shah, left-hander Aniruddh Chandrashekhar, and Digvijay Singh. Additionally, Bengaluru\u2019s own Prajwal Dev and rising prospect Arnav Paparkar will join the training camp as practice partners.<\/p>\n

India, 33rd in the Davis Cup tennis<\/a> team standings, will have their work cut out against a Dutch unit, which is ranked sixth, in the first round of qualifiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

India booked their place in the 2026 Qualifiers by defeating Switzerland 3-1 in the Davis Cup 2025 World Group I tie in Biel. This will be India\u2019s first Davis Cup Qualifiers appearance since the tournament format was revamped in 2019.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s Davis Cup 2026 team vs Netherlands<\/p>\n

Players: Sumit Nagal, Dhakshineswar Suresh, Karan Singh, Yuki Bhambri, Rithvik Bollipalli<\/p>\n

Reserves: Aryan Shah, Aniruddh Chandrashekhar, Digvijay Singh<\/p>\n

Captain: Rohit Rajpal<\/p>\n

Coach: Ashutosh Singh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doubles veteran and Paris 2024 Olympian N Sriram Balaji has been dropped from the Indian tennis team for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-368606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}