Cairo, 02 November (H.S.): India’s Under-16 boys’ team has been drawn in Group D alongside the United States, France and Kazakhstan for the Junior Davis Cup Finals, which get underway in the Egyptian capital on Monday. The tournament will be held from November 2 to 8 at the Smash Sporting Club.

Hruthik Katakam, Ribhav Saroha and Tavish Pahwa will represent India in the prestigious international junior team competition.

India secured its place in the Junior Davis Cup World Finals after finishing fourth in the Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying tournament held at the Beeline Arena in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

The Junior Davis Cup is the premier international team competition for boys aged 16 and under. This year, 16 national teams will compete for the world title, with the tournament being staged in Africa for the first time.

Four Groups to Compete

Australia, Egypt, Serbia and Canada have been placed in Group A, while Group B comprises Brazil, Spain, Hungary and Morocco. Group C features Japan, Czechia, Italy and Venezuela. India, the United States, France and Kazakhstan will compete in Group D.

The opening three days of the tournament will feature round-robin matches among the four teams in each group. This will be followed by a rest day, after which the knockout stage will begin. Each tie will consist of three matches — two singles and one doubles encounter.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, while the teams finishing in the bottom two positions will compete in placement matches.

This year's tournament will be played on clay courts. Spread across 20 acres in the western part of Cairo, the Smash Sporting Club has also been hosting the World Tennis Tour Juniors J500 Cairo tournament since 2023.

Over the past decade, Hungary, the United States, Türkiye, Spain and Chile have hosted this prestigious competition. The previous edition was held on clay courts at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, the capital of Chile.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar