Zhang Ling (WTA 217), Venise Chan (WTA 541), Jessica Yang, and debutante Eudice Chong (ITF 793) are the nominated players to spearhead Hong Kong at this year's Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II qualifying in Shenzhen during the week commencing January 30.

Yu Hiu Tung returns as Team Captain for the second year running, while former Hong Kong Davis Cupper and All China Games bronze medalist, Melvin Tong, is the Team Coach.

In Asia/Oceania Zone Group II this year, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan will be divided into two pools to engage in round robin play. The pair of pool winners will then play off to decide which nation is promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I in 2013.

Since losing to India 2-1 in the 2008 Group I Relegation Playoff, Hong Kong has been one victory shy of regaining promotion twice, losing to Kazakhstan 3-0 in 2009 and against Indonesia 2-1 in 2011 when Zhang Ling and Wu Ho Ching went down in the deciding doubles to Yayuk Basuki and Jessy Rompies, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Without looking too far ahead, with Sania Mirza (WTA 106) as anchor, India seems certain to be Hong Kong's biggest obstacle in securing promotion to higher company this year.

She is currently ranked No. 106 in singles and No. 11 in doubles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. At her best, she was once ranked as high as No. 27 in singles (27 Aug 2007) and No. 10 in doubles (12 Sep 2011).

Moreover, she has finished with a season-ending WTA Top-100 singles ranking in six of the past seven years.

At the Australian Open 2012 this week, Mirza has reached the semifinals in both the women's doubles (w/ Elena Vesnina) and mixed doubles (w/ Mahesh Bhupathi).

Although Sania Mirza is no longer the singles player she was five years ago, she is arguably a class above Group II. That said, she has not won consecutive matches in the same tournament in singles since the qualifiers in Eastbourne last June.

Twenty year-old Prerna Bhambri (WTA 661) has just one C10 title in her career thus far, while 15-year-old Rutuja Bhosale (WTA 792) has only competed in a handful of pro circuit events to date.

Bhosale, however, is ranked No. 75 on the ITF Junior Circuit and she is the reigning Asian Closed Junior Tennis Championship girls' singles titleholder.

Twenty-six year-old Isha Lakhani was once ranked as high as No. 291 in singles (19 May 2008) and No. 371 in doubles (1 Dec 2008). However, she missed the entire 2010 season and has played only two events on the ITF Women's Circuit last year. As a result, she is unranked at present.

In terms of head-to-heads, Lakhani is 1-1 versus Zhang Ling. She beat the Hong Kong Fed Cupper in the semifinals of the C25 Prune, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, in 2007 but lost in a Fed Cup Group I match-up, 7-5, 6-3, the following year.

Lakhani lost to Venise Chan in the first round of the C10 Khonkan in 2007, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4, in their only meeting to date.

Oman's Fatma Al Nabhani (WTA 556) and Kyrgyzstan's Bermet Duvanaeva (WTA 543) are the only other players holding a current WTA Singles Ranking in Group II this year.

Twenty year-old Fatma Al Nabhani has slipped to No. 556 after peaking at a career-best No. 362 (4 Oct 2010). Her best results on the pro circuit, however, have come in 2010 when she won the C10 Fujairah in the UAE and reached the final of the C25 Waterloo in Canada. That year, she also qualified for the C75 Shrewsbury in England.

In Fed Cup play, she lost to Zhang Ling at the one spot, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, when Hong Kong beat Oman 3-0 during last year's Group II round robins in Thailand.

After making her pro circuit debut in November 2007, Bermet Duvanaeva won her lone women's singles title at the C10 Baulet-Charleroi on clay last August and reached her only other final at the C10 Almaty on hardcourts in October 2011.

During the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II round robins in 2010, she lost to Jessica Yang at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1, but Kyrgyzstan ended up winning that tie 2-1 when Ksenia Palkina won against Zhang Ling at the one spot and then anchoring the win in the deciding doubles.

Interestingly though, Zhang Ling and Venise Chan will be reuniting on the same Fed Cup team for the first time since 2007 when the duo spearheaded the territory to 6th place in Asia/Oceania Zone Group I down in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Remarkably, the team beat Uzbekistan, Korea, and Singapore to finish in identical 3-1 records with Thailand and Uzbekistan atop Pool A that year. Yet unluckily, Hong Kong had to settle for 3rd in the pool following a count-back of sets won-lost and then ended up losing to New Zealand 2-1 in the 5th-6th Place Playoff instead.

Nevertheless, Venise Chan and Zhang Ling's respective victories over Iroda Tulyaganova and Akgul Amanmuradova at Nos. 1 and 2 singles sealed an improbable 2-1 win over Uzbekistan, the same side that beat Li Na and Zheng Jie's China just four months earlier at the Doha Asian Games that knocked the raging Chinese favourites out of the medal rounds.

When taken into account the huge discrepancies in terms of achievement, ranking, and pro circuit experience between the Uzbek duo and the then teenagers from Hong Kong, that performance could quite conceivably go down as one of the territory's finest Fed Cup victories.


Related Stories:

HK places sixth at Fed Cup A/O Zone Group I Playoffs (22 Apr 2007)

Super Ven KO's reigning Asian champ to seal vital HK win (18 Apr 2007)

China stunned by Uzbekistan; Thailand almost toppled (6 Dec 2006)



Fed Cup by BNP Paribas
Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and II
Shenzhen Luohu Tennis Center (Outdoor Hardcourts)
Shenzhen, China
Jan 30-Feb 4, 2012

TEAM NOMINATIONS (GROUP I)

Pool A
China
Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zheng Jie, Zhang Shuai
Captain: Lu Ling

Uzbekistan
Akgul Amanmuradova, Nigina Abduraimova, Sabina Sharipova, Iroda Tulyaganova
Captain: Dmitriy Tomashevich

Chinese Taipei
Chan Yung-Jan, Chang Kai-Chen, Hsieh Su-Wei, Chuang Chia-Jung
Captain: Wang Shi-Ting

Pool B
Thailand
Tamarine Tanasugarn, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, Varatchaya Wongteanchai, Nungnadda Wannasuk
Captain: Virat Baerrohim

Kazakhstan
Galina Voskoboeva, Sessil Karatancheva, Yaroslava Shvedova, Zarina Diyas
Captain: Yegor Shaldunov

Korea
Kim So-Jung, Han Sung-Hee, Yoo Mi, Lee So-Ra
Captain: Kim Il-Soon

Indonesia
Ayu Fani Damayanti, Jessy Rompies, Lavinia Tananta, Angelique Widjaja
Captain: Surya Wijaya Budi


TEAM NOMINATIONS (GROUP II)

Hong Kong
Players: Zhang Ling, Venise Chan, Yang Zijun, Eudice Chong
Captain: Yu Hiu Tung

India
Players: Sania Mirza, Prerna Bhambri, Rutuja Bhosale, Isha Lakhani
Captain: Rohit Rajpal

Iran
Players: Madona Najarian, Ghazaleh Torkaman, Sahar Najaei, Seyedeh Yasaman
Captain: Neda Nourian

Kyrgyzstan
Players: Bermet Duvanaeva, Inna Volkovich, Zhamilia Duisheeva, Emilia Tenizbaeva
Captain: Marat Tenizbaev

Oman
Players: Fatma Al Nabhani, Maliha Al Awidi, Sarah Al Balushi
Captain: Hadia Mustafa

Pakistan
Players: Saba Aziz, Ushna Suhail, Sara Mansoor, Iman Qureshi
Captain: Muhammad Khalid

Philippines
Players: Anna Clarice Patrimonio, Marian Capadocia, Tamitha Nguyen, Noelle Zoleta
Captain: Karl Thomas Santamaria

Singapore
Players: Ang Geraldine, Hannah Chew En Xin, Olivia Koh, Rehmat Johal
Captain: Daniel Heryanta Dewandaka

Sri Lanka
Players: Thisuri Molligoda, Roshenka Fernando, Amritha Muttiah, Nilushi Fernando
Captain: Dinith Pathiraja

Turkmenistan
Players: Prenko Anastasiya, Halliyeva Jenneta, Muhammetgulyyeva Guljan, Hummetova Ummarahmat
Captain: Bashimov Gulch