Sasikumar Mukund, as the top seed, projects a positive image of Indian tennis in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tournament to be staged at the Harvest Academy, Jassowal, from Monday.
There is no doubt that the 18-year-old from Tamil Nadu is a talented player, who has been based in Europe to speed up his growth on the professional circuit.
But, what the 762nd-ranked Sasikumar signifies with his presence at the top is the absence of the top 10 players of the country in the tournament.
From Yuki Bhambri, Somdev Devvarman, Saketh Myneniand Ramkumar Ramanathan to Karunuday Singh and V.M. Ranjeet, the leading players have moved to greener pastures, mostly in the form of Challengers.
It is a healthy scenario that the former national champion Mohit Mayur, trying to resurrect his career, finds himself as the second seed.
In fact, the third seed Jui-Chen Hung of Chinese Taipei is the only foreigner among the eight seeds. Thus, it will be a fine opportunity for the lesser lights to show their ability and garner some invaluable ATP points, when the big boys are away.
The seedings: 1. Sasikumar Mukund, 2. Mohit Mayur, 3. Jui-Chen Hung (Tpe), 4. Kaza Vinayak Sharma, 5. Sidharth Rawat, 6. Chandril Sood, 7. Suraj Prabodh, 8. Lakshit Sood.
The results: Qualifying event (second round): Garry Tokas bt Rohin Gajree 6-2, 6-4; Rubal Shandilya bt Dinesh Chandra Suyal 6-0, 6-0; Garvit Batra bt Chinmaya Dev Chauhan 6-2, 6-2; Rishabh Agarwal bt Parasdeep Singh Virk 6-2, 6-2; Siddharth Anand bt Mohit Jain 6-3, 6-1.
