Indian players available after dispute, but only for next Davis Cup tie against Indonesia

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW DELHI — Leading Indian players who boycotted last week’s Davis Cup defeat against South Korea said on Saturday they’re available for the playoff tie against Indonesia in April but added that some issues remain unresolved.

“Given that a number of the issues that we as players have still raised remain unresolved, our confirmation of availability is limited to the said Indonesia tie,” the group of players — including Somdev Devvarman and Mahesh Bhupathi — said in a letter to the All India Tennis Association. The group added that it looked forward to reaching a “comprehensive long term understanding.”

The players had earlier refused to confirm their availability for the South Korea tie even though AITA agreed to most of the demands over team management and prize money.

AITA named a new coach in former Davis Cup player Zeeshan Ali and fired team doctor Vece Paes. It also announced an increase in the share of prize money for Davis Cup players.

However, the players said they were not happy with Ali as coach, wanted non-playing captain SP Mishra removed immediately and also called for more transparency in financial matters.

Leander Paes was the only prominent name in India’s severely weakened team which lost 4-1 to South Korea in the Asia-Oceania Group.

VM Ranjith and Vijayant Malik lost both their singles matches while Purav Raja partnered doubles specialist Paes in the only win for the home side.

10:00ET 09-02-13