India’s top women’s singles players Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaishnavi Adkar and Vaidehee Chaudhari have been left out of the Asian Games tennis squad after the government pruned the list, leaving the national challenge without its leading singles contenders and Sahaja “very shocked” at being denied the opportunity.

The Sports Ministry’s final sanction order issued on August 22 has cleared 492 athletes across 35 disciplines for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, but AITA’s request to include all the players it had selected for tennis has not been accepted.

All India Tennis Association (AITA) had originally proposed a 12-member tennis squad, including six women, but the final list has been reduced to seven players, with only Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale among the women retained.

Prarthana Thombare and men’s singles prospect Manas Dhamne are also among those omitted from the Games, to be held from September 19-October 4 in Aichi-Nagoya.

Sahaja is India’s number one women’s singles player placed 344 on the WTA ranking chart followed by Vaishnavi (390) and Vaidehee (437).

“I am really shocked and disappointed to hear this. I was very much looking forward to competing in the Asian Games,” Sahaja told PTI from the Netherlands, where she is competing on the WTA circuit.

Sahaja said the decision was disappointing because major multi-sport events can produce surprise results, with lower-ranked players often upsetting the established ones.

“There are instances where the underdogs beat the top players and win medals and win tournaments because it is a different set-up. Who knows, this may not be the right thing,” she said.

“If we say that I will compete only when I am a seeded player, then what’s the point of going there? Why play tennis at all?”

The AITA had specifically backed Sahaja’s inclusion in its July 3 representation to the Indian Olympic Association, describing her as India’s highest-ranked women’s singles player and citing her recent deep runs at ITF and WTA events against higher-ranked opposition.

The association had also highlighted Vaishnavi’s bronze medal at the FISU World University Games and Vaidehee’s consistency on the international circuit.

Sahaja said players needed the backing of administrators to make their mark.

“Have the belief in players because we have the belief in us. Even at Grand Slams now qualifiers are making deep runs and rewriting history. That’s where the fun is,” she said.

The exclusion of the three women’s singles players could leave India without a representative in the event.

Even if Ankita is eventually entered in singles, India’s medal prospects could be limited given her recent struggles to make main draws on the international circuit.

“We tried out best in convincing the authorities to send all the selected players but they are citing the criteria of sending only top-8 players in Asia. It’s disappointing but the criteria is the same for all sports, what to do,” AITA’s interim Secretary General Sunder Iyer told PTI.

AITA had made a broader case for fielding its strongest possible squad, arguing that Asian Games tennis offers five separate medal events and selection should take into account the different requirements of singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

The association had also flagged India’s strong mixed doubles prospects, pointing out that three Indian combinations featured among the top eight accepted entries, while India was entitled to field two pairs.

AITA had accordingly sought the inclusion of Ankita and Prarthana as established doubles specialists. Ankita had won a women’s doubles bronze at the 2018 Asian Games and reached the quarterfinals in singles and mixed doubles at Hangzhou 2022.

AITA had urged the IOA to urgently review the exclusions and reassess the entries on an event-specific basis, saying the accepted entries offered India legitimate opportunities to compete for medals.

India have Sumit Nagal and Dhakshineswar Suresh as the two singles players in the men’s squad and three doubles players, including Yuki Bhamabri, N Sriram Balaji and Anirudh Chandrasekar.

While the women’s squad comprises doubles duo of Ankita and Rutuja.

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