The Indian tennis players are unclear of their participation in the Olympics in Tokyo because they have been confirmed to participate in these matches but they still don’t know exactly how the marking cut off for the games was adopted for finalisation.
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, with a combined ranking of 113, were not able to cut the entries when the 14 June categories were considered but vacated places were offered to the next eligible player because of their withdrawal.
Many players who did not cut before, announced their participation, even though the ITF did not officially make the cut-off mark public. The Indian players question the lack of transparency in the process.
“The most confusing part as a player is even though the entry deadline has passed for Olympics, we have no idea on what the exact cut off of rankings are,” Bopanna told PTI from Bengaluru.
“I have been asking ATP when I was in London (for Wimbledon) but unfortunately they themselves have no concrete answer to this,” the 41-year-old further said.
Rohan Bopanna, only the fourth Indian player who won a Grand Slam, wanted to know-how ahead of him and Sharan, players with a lower combined rank were chosen. He referred to the Spanish team Pablo Andujar and Roberto Carballes Baena. They have a combined rank of 170.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran, a single-player said it was frustrating that they did not have access to cut-off mark information. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has made it clear to the single players who are already at the single draw that they will take the first place on the doubles draw.
Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic recently announced that he will compete in the Tokyo Games on his Instagram page. On June 14th, Machac was 145th on the ATP list, while the Indian Sumit Nagal on the same day was 144th but did not make the cut.
When asked about this, the ITF official explained that “Tomas Machac has received the ITF Place (Final Qualification Place) for a player from a country in Europe not already represented in the event.”
