Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The All India Tennis Association (AITA) on Friday announced a four-member team for World Team Cup Regional Qualification for wheelchair tennis, to be held in Vilamoura, Portugal from May 9 to 16.Mariappan Durai, Shekar Veeraswamy and Karthik Karunakaran have been included in the team while Balachandra S has been named as a reserve.
The Indian side, participating for the first time in the event, will contest for one of the four Regional Qualification spots available to reach the World Group event of World Team Cup 2021.Great Britain, France, Japan, Argentina, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, USA, Korea Republic and Brazil are the 10 nations that have received direct entries and there are two wild card entries.
They will complete the 16-team field of the World Team Cup World Group event. The Asia/Oceania regional qualifying are being held in Portugal this year due to challenges and uncertainty presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and to minimise the risk of disruption for both the Qualification and World Group events.
Vijay, Nikhil, Ankur, Suresh in semifinals
Indore: Vijay Guru Sanjit (TTFI) in the cadet boys category, M Nikhil Menon (Tamil Nadu), Arya Kataria (TTFI), Partha Prabhakar (UP) and Suresh in the sub-junior boys category Raj Priyesh (TN), Shankhadeep Das (Bengal), PB Abhinand (TTTA), Ankur Bhattacharya (Bengal) reached the semi-finals in the national table tennis competition for cadet and sub-juniors being played at Abhay Khel Prashal on Friday. Vijay Guru Sanjit (TTFI) defeated Arnav Panwar (UP) 11-8, 11-9, 12-10 in the quarter-final of the cadet boys category, M Nikhil Menon (TN) defeated Dherya Rawat (Rajasthan) 8-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-2, Arya Kataria (TTFI) gave Rupam Sardar (Bengal) 11 6, 11-5, 14-12, Parth Prabhakar (UP) defeated Savanu Burman (TTFI) 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 to advance in the semifinal.
Suresh Raj Priyesh (TN) edged Rohit Shankar (Karnataka) 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 in the quarter final of the sub-junior boys category, Shankhadeep Das (Bengal) edged Kushal Chapada (Maharashtra) 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7, P.B. Abhinand (TTTA) beat Gaurav Panchanan (Maharashtra) 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10, Ankur Bhattacharya (Bengal) beat Kushal Patel (Maharashtra) 11-3, defeated 11–7, 11–9, 11–6 and entered semifinal.
