Rediff

New Delhi, Apr 1: India tennis squad has a fair chance of winning a couple of gold medals at Commonwealth Games to be held in October next year, former Davis cup team member Jaideep Mukherjea said on Wednesday.

"We have a bright chance to bag the gold in men's doubles and mixed doubles the coming Commonwealth Games," Mukherjea, in charge of coaching Indian tennis squad for Commonwealth Games, told PTI.

According to him, Indian tennis players would face the challenge from Australia, Canada and England.

Admitting that the inclusion of top tennis stars like Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Dev Burman, Rohan Bopanna, Sania Mirza and Yuki Bhambri almost certain, Mukherjea felt there would still be enough chance for other players to play in the mega sporting event.

He said apart from Yuki Bhambry, some of the juniors like Vijayan Malik from Chandigarh, Abhijit Tiwari from Raipur and Rajshree Venkatesh from Mysore have showed potential in the training camps organised by Commonwealth Games Committee.

All India Tennis Association Executive Director Ranbir Chauhan informed that in Commonwealth Games, there would be no team event for tennis this time. "The events would be restricted to singles and doubles for men and women and mixed doubles," he said.

Chauhan informed that India being the host would be able to field two sets of competitors in each event.

Chauhan said the probables already had a training camp at Nick Boliteri Tennis Academy in the US. There would be another ten-day camp at Pune beginning next Monday.

According to him the probables would take part in two tournaments in Delhi and attend another training camp there. To hone skills, the probables would also take part in tournaments abroad, he said.