Fed Cup: Hong Kong look to Rastogi for inside job

Karan Rastogi is returning to his happy hunting ground and that may not be good news for Indian fans.The 31-year-old Mumbaikar will be busy on court at the RK Khanna tennis stadium in New Delhi this week, only this time he will be plotting the downfall of the Indians as he captains the Hong Kong women in the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1 tie starting on Wednesday.The DLTA Complex is where Rastogi won two ITF junior doubles titles in 2003 in the company of Somdev Devvarman and two years later his first competitive title, a Satellite crown, and followed it up with two $10,000 Futures titles the subsequent season.“I have played here as a 13 and 14-years old, I grew up here. I met all my old friends and officials in the DLTA,” Rastogi said on Wednesday, before ominously adding, “it’s good for my team to have me as captain. Probably I can guide them on court as well as off it. Get anything they want sorted out.”Hong Kong are placed in the same Pool A along with India, China and Kazakhstan. Pool B comprises Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Korea. The top teams from the two pools will clash in a playoff to decide the one team that will advance to World Group 2 playoff. The lowest two teams will be relegated.The last time they clashed in 2014 in Astana, Hong Kong defeated Sania Mirza-led India in a Group 2 tie. Rastogi was the coach then and Hong Kong were promoted to Group 1.Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare played that tie from the present Indian team which now includes Karman Kaur Thandi and Pranjala Yadlapalli with Ankita Bhambri as the captain.Rastogi’s team Hong Kong features the same team now as then - Ling Zhang, Eudice Chong, Kwan Yau Ng and Ho Ching Wu - but the Mumbaikar gave a professional outlook about his team’s chances.“I remember very well that tie. Sania was playing so we wanted to close it out in the singles. Our No. 1 player (Zhang) defeated Ankita (Raina) but our No. 2 (Chong) played really well to beat Prarthana (Thombare),” he said.“But our girls are older now and India have a young set of players. But we have to play China and Kazakhstan before taking on India. Kazakhstan have players ranked No. 57 (Zarina Diyas) and 61 (Yulia Putintseva), probably the highest ranked players in the tie. So we are focussing on them first, not only India.”Rastogi was in Mumbai last year for the WTA $125,000 event and has a good knowledge of the Indian players anyways. He arrived with his team in Delhi two days ago and the players have well acclimatised to the local conditions.“The girls like the Indian food and culture. So they are happy to have me show them around,” he said.