Top seed Carlos Boluda from Spain, Nam Hoang LY from Vietnam and Sidharth Rawat, Arjun Khade and Vijay Sundar from India are among those who will be participating in the ITF Futures Men's Tennis tournament, beginning here from March 19.
The week-long tourney, which will have record representation of players from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Ukraine and Brazil, among others, is being organised by the Trivandrum Tennis Club (TTC).
The total prize money of the tournament is USD 15,000.
The ITF Men's circuit is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world, organised by the International Tennis Federation.
ITF Futures is the only clay court tournament held in India and hence attracts lot of attention nationally and globally.
The winners are awarded ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) points that determine the player's ranking in the world.
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"In this edition, there is a 400 per cent jump in players participation from abroad compared to the previous years," Satish Kumar, President of TTC told reporters here.
From India, Sidharth Rawat, Arjun Khade and Vijay Sundar, seeded 3rd, 4th and 5th will lead their quest for the title.
Local favourite Haadin Bava, Kerala's no.1 ranked player in the circuit, has pulled out of the tournament due to a wrist injury.
"While this is a bit of a disappointment, however on hindsight we will get to see some of the local players as a wild card entrant into the main draw list," M S Krishnakumar, Tournament Director, said.
The tournament will have a draw of 32 players for singles and a draw of 16 for doubles.
The qualifying rounds will be held on the March 17 and 18.
All matches will be played on a knock out basis from 9 AM to 6 PM, subject to any changes by the tournament director in case of rescheduleing due to rains.
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