Direct entry for Nitin, Arati

MUMBAI, May 3: Vasudev Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and National grass court champion Nitin Kirtane, who missed the Maharashtra hard court tourn...

MUMBAI, May 3: Vasudev Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and National grass court champion Nitin Kirtane, who missed the Maharashtra hard court tournament which concluded today, are the top two direct entrants in the Rs 1.25-lakh prize money Sterling Resorts Mumbai Hard court tournament commencing at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana courts on May 5.

Arati Ponnappa of Karnataka, who missed the Maharashtra hard court event in which Rushmi Chakravarthy emerged as the women’s champion, is among the 20 players given direct entries in the women’s singles.

The direct entries

MEN: 1. Vasudeva Reddy (AP), 2. Nitin Kirtane (Mah), 3. K V Ganesh (TN), 4. Gaurav Natekar (Mah), 5. Intikhab Ali (Mah), 6. Shailesh Dhoble (Mah), 7. CV Anand (TN), 8. DR Jayadeva (kar), 9. Rohan Wadhera (Mah), 10. Jagdish Tanwar (Raj), 11. R Balaji (TN), 12. Rajesh Vora (Pun), 13. Amod Wakalkar (Mah), 14. Harsh Mankad (Mah), 15. Anand Radhakrishnan (Ben), 16. Vinay Karia (AP), 17. VN Premprakash (TN), 18. Anup Minda (Mah), 19, Rohan Malhotra (Del), 20. R G Arvind (Kar). Wild cards: 1. Prashant Sutar (Mah), 2. Vijay Kannan (Del), 3. Ravi Bhaya (Mah), 4. Vijayendra Laad (Mah).

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WOMEN:1.Rushmi Chakravarthy (TN), 2. Arati Ponnappa (Kar), 3. Sai Jayalakshmi (TN), 4. Archana Venkatraman (Kar), 5. Janaki Krishnamurthy (Mah), 6. Arathi Venkatraman (Kar), 7. Sadia Pathan (Kar), 8. Aparna Srinivasan (Mah), 9. Jahnavi Parekh (Mah), 10. Rushmi Khanna (Mah), 11. Joy Rodrigues (Mah) 12. Jutika Choksi (Mah(), 13. Neeth Deviah (Kar), 14. Mable Abraham (Mah), 15. Reetu Sethi (Mah), 16. Kuntal Joshi (Mah), 17. Nehal Chopra (Mah), 18. Sumitra Rao (TN), 19. S Anitha (TN), 20. Nikhila Palat (Mah). Wild cards: 1. Sheela Naidu (Mah), 2. Laxmi Jayaraman (TN), 3. Hrushida Kamthe (Mah), 4. Pooja Deshmukh (Mah).

WESTERN INDIA TOURNEY: The Rs 2.5-lakh prize money Western India Hard Court Tennis Championship is to be held at Pune’s Deccan Gymkhana Club courts from May 12-17.

The event, organised jointly by the Pune Junior Tennis Circuit and the Hill Side Gymkhana in the city after a gap of 15 years, is expected to attract top-notch players of the country, a release stated today.

The last date for receiving entries for the tournament is May 7. The qualifying rounds are to be held on May 10 and 11 and the tournament proper would commence on May 12, the release added.