New Delhi, June 17 (IANS) Ten Indians have qualified for the singles main draw of the ITTF Pro Tour table tennis tournament beginning at the Yamuna Sports Complex here Friday.
Six men and four women cleared the qualification round Thursday for the round of 32 beginning Friday.
Over 100 players from 13 nations are participating in the five-day tournament, which is a test event for the Commonwealth Games.
In the men’s singles, Abhishek Ravichandran, Anirban Nandi, Sanil Shetty, Subhajit Saha, Amalraj Anthony and Sourav Chakraborty entered in the round of 32.
Saurav faces second seed Singapore Gao Ning while Abhishek, who remained undefeated in the qualifiers, will take on Chih Hu of Chinese Taipei.
The top Indian in men’s section, Achanta Sharath Kamal, who won a gold in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, will begin his campaign against qualifier Ji Min Han of Korea.
In the women’s singles event, Shamini Kumaresan, Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahastrabudhe and Nandita Saha qualified for the main draw.
Shamini will take on tournament top seed Mengyu Yu from Singapore while Saha will play Sayaka Hirano of Japan.
India’s top women’s paddler Mouma Das has been drawn against Dal Rae Jin of Korea.
‘I am happy with India’s performance in the qualifiers,’ said Bhavani Mukherjee, chief Indian coach.
‘The level of competition is tough in the tournament and our players played well.’
