CHANDIGARH, Jan 8: Ninteen Indians and one Pakistani players are among those 53 who have so far signed for the 64-player qualifying draw of the Gold Flake ITF Future Men's Tennis Tournament. More players, mostly foreigners, are expected to sign before 9 a.m. tomorrow when the draw will be taken out. The draw has been delayed as ITF supervisor Luigi Barambilla from Italy has not reached the city due to late arrival of his flight in Delhi. He is expected here late tonight. However, All India Tennis Association supervisor Dushan Deo has arrived.The Indians, who will appear from the qualifying rounds, are Chander Sekhar Mohanty, Bopanna Rohan, Shailash Dhobe, Anup Midha, Shivshanker Kanbargimath, Sajid Lodi, Mustafa Ghouse, Ranganathan, Anjan Vipian, Prithvi Vishwanath, Sidhhartha Verma, Anand Radhakrishnan, Sanzaruz Zaman, Saurav Panja, Rajesh Vohra, Inderjit Singh Pannu, Gursharan Singh and Rajkumar Gopalan.Four Indian players - Vishal Uppal, Avinash Arun, AV Rao and Sunil Kumar - have been given wild cards for the qualifying draw. However, no Indian has got direct entry into the main draw. However, Syed Fazaluddin, Vijay Kannan, Vindo Sridhar and Manoj Madhaven have been given wild cards.According to Rajan Kashyap, chairman of the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association, there would be no entry fee for the players figuring in the main draw. However, entry fee for the qualifying draw is $ 20. It is to be paid in dollars. But the Indian players have been permitted to pay in the Indian currency (Rs 500 per entry). Aisam-ul-Haq Quereshi is the lone Pakistani who has staked his claim for a berth as a qualifier in the main draw of 32.Meanwhile, as the grass courts at CLTA, Panjab University and Chandigarh Club were still not playable due to rain, the players practised at the four synthetic courts at the CLTA Complex.According to the schedule, the qualifying matches will be played on January 9 and 10 while the main draw of the $ 10,000 meet will be held from Janaury 11 to 15. Except the sem-finals and finals, all other matches will be played at Chandigarh Club in Sector 1.
