Pakistan F-1 Futures attract 37 foreign players

KARACHI: As many as 37 foreign players, including 11 Indians and eight Russians, have entered their names to play Pakistan F-1 Futures, scheduled from December 4-10 in Islamabad.
According to the entry list, world number 299 Ivan Nedelko from Russia is top seed, while Thomas Brechemier from France (world number 439) and David Perez Sanz from Spain (world number 448) are second and third seeds, respectively.
The other players of the main draw are: Tomislav Jotovski from Macedonia (582), Pere Riba from Spain (762), Shalva Dzhanashia from Russia (778), Julian Onken from Germany (803), Kristian Lozan from Russia (839), Laurent Rochette from France (924), Peter Goldsteiner from Austria (939), Vadim Alekseenko (1053) and Alexander Lebedyn (1096) from Ukraine, Kelsey Stevenson from Canada (1114), Kunal Anand from India (1302) and Luka Pavlovic from France (1377).
There are 22 foreign players in the qualifying round: Paramveer Singh, Taha Kapadia, Jatin Dahiya, Achint Bhagat, Kirandevaa Namadevan, Kunaal Namashivaya, Kshitij Kamal, Tarun Karra, Medhir Goyal, and Kunal Vazirani from India; Ivan Ponomarenko, Nikolay Vylegzhanin, Dmitry Myagkov, Oleg Besednikov, and Anton Chekhov from Russia; Roy Hobbs from Singapore; Tegbir Singh from Canada; Wing-Lun Lam from Hong Kong; Fariduni Bakhodur from Tajikistan; Ahmed Deedat from Malaysia; Ciprian Onufrei from Romania; and Bingyu Yu from China. It is to be noted that 186 players have withdrawn their names from this event.
Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president Salim Saifullah Khan has said that three ITF Futures are returning to the country after some nine years: ITF Futures-F1 Serena Hotels from December 4-10; ITF Futures-F2 Kulsum Saifullah Khan from December 11- 17; and ITF Futures-F3 Benazir Bhutto Shaheed from December 18-24.
The prize money of each Tournament will be $15,000. The PTF claimed that the number of entries from international players was not only substantial with well over 200 from around the globe received until the F1 deadline of the 16th but also highly impressive with several players ranked in the top 300 in the world.
The main draws in Futures are for 32 players in singles, and 16 pairs in doubles, while the qualifying round for singles is also for 32 players. Several dozen invitation letters have already been issued by the PTF to overseas players to assist them to obtain Pakistani visas.