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India finished fourth in the Asia-Oceania junior girls' Fed Cup tennis in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which ended on Sunday.
In the third-fourth place play-off, India went down to Taiwan 1-2.
Sanaa Bhambri, who is ranked 52nd in the ITF junior rankings, defeated Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting 6-2, 6-1 to give India a 1-0 lead. But the top seeds staged a strong rally as Hsu Wen-Hsin beat Tara Iyer 6-1, 6-1 and the doubles pair of Wen-Hsin and Ting-Lin overcame Kartiki Bhat and Iyer 6-2, 7-5 to clinch the issue.
Japan, underdogs at the event, sprung another surprise with a 2-1 victory over Thailand to take the top spot.
The victory won them a berth at the Junior Fed Cup finals in Essen, Germany, from September 16-21, along with Thailand, Taiwan and India, who all made it as the best four Asia-Oceania teams.
Indonesia took the fifth placing, when they edged South Korea 2-1 while New Zealand were seventh.
Malaysia only managed an eighth placing after losing to New Zealand 3-0.