South Korea on Sunday wrapped up the Asia/Oceania Group 1 Davis Cup tie against India 4-1 with Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj failing to live up to expectations and losing their reverse singles matches.
The lost means India will now have to battle it out in the play-off with the zonal Group 2 winner to avoid relegation from the Asia-Oceania Elite Group I.
Hyung-Taik Lee took the unassailable 3-1 lead for the host outclassing Bopanna in the first rubber 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 while Amritraj tried to salvage some pride against Woong-Sun Jun in the already dead rubber by coming back from behind to win the second set. But the Indian soon run out of steam and eventually lost 3-6, 6-3, 5-7.
India needed to win both the rubbers today to win the tie, after Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had beaten the Korean pair of Oh Hee Kwon and Woong-Sun Jun 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to make it 1-2 for the visitors yesterday. Earlier, both Bopanna and Amritraj had lost their first two singles matches.
