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ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: The qualifying rounds of the ITF Satellite Tennis Circuit Championship 2004 started on Saturday with Indians dominating the proceedings.
As many as 10 matches of the first qualifying round and one match for the final qualifying round were played.
Indian's Sandeep Kumar qualified for the main draws in the sole match for the second qualifying round by beating Usman Ejaz of Pakistan 6-2,6-1.
Pakistan's Nomi Qamar, Mehmood Khan and Akbar Pataudi while Vikas Punna,Gurmehar Singh, Siddarth Gulati, Yannick Nelord and Vivek Shokeen from India made their way to the second round of qualifying to be played on Sunday . Dane Fernandez of Australia and Cheong-Eul- Kim of South Korea also booked their seats for the second round of qualifying matches.
Players who were given wild cards for the qualifying round include Vishal Gaur, Sujai Reddy and Arindam Datta of India, Akbar of Pakistan and Cheong-Eul- Kim from South Korea.
A total of 32 players out of 48 singed in, from various countries are in the run to qualify for the main draw, as 11 players out of these 32 players would be eligible to go to the main draws.
Upto 17 players had already qualified for the main draws on the basis their international rankings.
Pakistan's Aqeel Khan tops the list with the ranking of 581.
Three Pakistani and one Indian players have been given wild cards for the main draws that include Asim Shafiq, Jalil Khan and Wasif Cheema of Pakistan and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India.
The Pakistan players playing qualifying round are Nomi Qamar, Usman Ejaz, Ikramul Haq, Aftab Anwar, Mehmood Khan,Rashid Malik, Hamidul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Muhammad Shafiq, Inam Gul, Kamran Khalil, Adnan Khan, Akbar Pataudi, Mutib-ur-Rehman Pasha and Usman Bangash.
While Sandeep Kumar, Wrik Ganguly, Vikas Punna, Vishal Gaur, Arindam Datta, Gurmehar Singh, Manchit Madan, Siddarth Gulati, Sujai Reddy, Yannik Nelord, Vivek Shokeen and Varun Wali from India are taking part in the qualifying round.
Austria's Leo Puhanic, Japan's Atsufumi Yoshikawa,South Korea's Cheong- Eul-Kim and Morocco's Yassir Bouyahya are also among the players, playing qualifying rounds.
The doubles entries are open till 12noon on Sunday and the qualifying round for would be started after 1:30pm
Results: (first qualifying round):
Cheong-Eul Kim (S Kor) bt Yassir Bouyahay (Morroco), 6-4, 6-4; Dane Fernandez (Aus) bt Adnan Khan (Pakistan), 6-1, 6-2; Yannick Nelord (India) bt Leo Puhanic (Austria), 4-6, 6-0, 6-3;Vikas Punna (India) bt Ikramul Haq (Pakistan), 6-2, 6-0; Mehmood Khan (Pakistan) bt Aftab Anwar (Pakistan), 6-0, 6-3; Gurrnehar singh (India) bt Rashid Malik (Pakistan), 6-1, 6-1;Siddharth Gulati (India) bt Manchit Madan (India), 6-3, 6-1; Nomi Qamar (Pakistan), bt Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), 6-0, 6-1; Vivek Shokeen (India) bt Inam Gul (Pakistan), 6-1, 6-3; Akbar Pataudi (Pakistan) bt Muteeb Pasha (Pakistan), 6-2, 6-4.
Second Round:
Sandeep Kumar (India) bt Usman Ejaz (Pakistan), 6-2, 6-1
Sunday's, matches for second qualifying round Matches start at 9:30 am.
Hamidul Haq (Pakistan0) v Siddharth Gulati (India); Atsufumi Yoshikawa (Japan) v Vivek Shokeen (India); Sujai Reddy (India) v Nomi Qamar (Pakistan); Vishal Gaur (India) v Mehmood Khan (Pakistan); Arindam Datta (India) v Gurmebar Singh (India); Wrik Ganguly (India) v Vikas Punna (India);
Matches starting at 10:30am:
Usman Bangash (Pakistan) v Cheon-Eul Kim (South Korea); Varun Walis (India) v Akbar Pataudi (Pakistan); Muhammad Shafiq (Pakistan) vs Yannick Nelord (India); Kamran Khalil (Pakistan) v Dane Fernandez (Australia).-APP
