Indian sports news wrap, January 5

The Sugar Town of Mandya will be back on the global tennis map after a gap of eight years when it hosts the PET ITF Mandya Open ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour at the PET Stadium from Jan 7 to 14. Mandya had last hosted an international event in May 2015 with previous events being held in 2010 and 2012.

The tournament boasts a prize pool of 25,000 USD and has drawn top talent from around the globe which includes players from over 18 countries. The top five players on the acceptance list include Eric Vanshelboim of Ukraine, South African Kris van Wyk, Giles Hussey of Great Britain, Thomas Fancutt of Australia and India’s Sasikumar Mukund.

Mysore’s SD Prajwal Dev, who has just been inducted in the Indian Davis Cup team, is amongst five Indians who have got a direct entry. The main draw in the singles competition will comprise of 32 players with 20 of them gaining direct entry while four of them will earn a wild card. The remaining eight players will come from a pool of 32 players who will be playing the qualifying rounds to be held on 7th and 8th of January.

As many as 16 pairs will vie for the doubles title. The doubles finals will be played on 13th January while the singles finals will be held on January 14. The wildcards for the main event included Rishi Reddy, Manish G, Manish Sureshkumar and Neeraj Yashpal. Comments Related Topics.