Players from 11 countries to participate in ITF Futures

Chandigarh, May 24 (UNI) Leading players from 11 countries, including hosts India, have sent their entries for the 15,000 dollars SAIL India F3 ITF Men's Futures 2007 to be organised by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) at the CLTA Stadium in Sector 10 here from May 28 to June 2.

The qualifying matches would be played on May 26 and 27. All matches would be played on synthetic Plexi cushion courts.

Giving details of the tournament, CLTA chairman Rajan Kashyap said here today that the main draw in the singles would be of 32 players. Twenty players will get direct entries on the basis of their ITF rankings. Eight players would make it to the main draw through qualifying rounds, while four players will be awarded wild cards on the basis of their rankings.

Out of the 18 players who have got direct entry into the singles main draw, four are from the foreign countries. They are Matthew Smit of Britain (ranking 773rd), Guilherme Ochiai of Brazil ( 790th), Robert Searle of Great Britain ( 867th) and Tsung-Hua Yang of Chinese Taipei (1045th).

Among 19 alternates, 10 are foreign entries. Two are from Italy, and one each from Chinese Taipei, Israel, Siberia, Ireland, Uzbekistan, Germany and Japan.

Two former CLTA trainees Davis Cupper and foremer National Hard Court champion Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, ranked 681, and Sanam Singh (1013th) figure in the main draw.

Mr Kashyap was confident that Sunil and Sanam would give their best performance as they would find enough support from the home crowd. Sunil is the third highest ranked player among the players staking their claims to the top honours. Sunil's ranking is 681 and he is capable of clinching the singles title.

Karan Rastogi is the highest ranked player in the field with 389 ranking. Vivek Shokeen is ranked 616. Matthew Smith of Britain is the higest ranked foreign player with 773rd ranking.

Mr Kashyap said that besides the prize money, the CLTA would be providing free hospitality for the main draw players till they remain in the fray. This tournament offers 10,000 dollar prize money and free hospitality. SAIL is the title sponsor while Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India are co-sonsors.

Tournament Director M Ramsekhar said that the all arrangments had been completed for the smooth conduct of the tournament. The qualifying rounds would be conducted on May 26 and 27 while sign-in is on May 25. As medical partners Fortis Health Care will provide medical back-up throughout the tournament.

Ramsekhar said that Puneet Gupta would be the referee. He will be assisted by ITF White Badge Abhishek Mukherjee and Somnath Manna.

The following players have been given direct entry into the main draw of 32 in singles: Karan Rastogi (India) 389, Vivek Shokeen (Ind) 616, Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind) 681, Navdeep Singh (Ind) 724, Vijay Kannan (Ind) 734, Aditya Madekar (Ind) 750, Matthew Smith (GBR) 773, Guilherme Ochiai ( BRA) 790, Robert Searle (GBR) 867, Prakash Amritraj (Ind) 872, Jeevan Neduchezhiyan (Ind) 907, Vishnu Vardhan (Ind) 931, Purav Raja (Ind) 931, Vishal Punna (Ind) 971, Sanam Singh (Ind) 1013, Stephen Amritraj (Ind) 1038, Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) 1045, Vinod Sridhar (Ind) 1092.

Alternates: Kiran Nandkumar (Ind) 1134, Shivang Mishra (Ind) 1170, Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (Ind) 1235, TusharLiberhan (Ind) 1235, Huai-En Chang (TPE) 1330, Kamala Kannan (Ind) 1330, Yannick Nelord (Ind) 1330, Alexei Milner (ISR) 1377, Denis Bejtulahi (SRB) 1377, Mohammed Mohazebnia (IRI) 1377, Jiri Krkoska (CZE) 1377, Sumit-Prakash Gupta (Ind) 1500, Jaco Mathew (Ind) 1500, Vaja Uzakov (UZB) 1500, Michele Mangiafico (ITA) 1500, Piergiorgio Platto (ITA) 1500, Markus Schiller (GER) 1500, Satoshi Yoshino (JPN) 1500, Nitin Kirtane (Ind) 1500.

UNI