Venkat's son in Davis Cup camp
Vikram Venkatraghavan, elder son of former India Test cricketer S Venkatraghavan, has been called up for the selection trials to pick the third and fourth members of the Davis Cup squad to take on Chile, the tie to be played in New Delhi between September 19-21.
Vikram, a former national junior champion now studying in the United States, has ATP rankings of 893 in singles and 1000 in doubles.
Chairman of the selection committee Shyam Minotra said that non-playing captain Jaideep Mukherjee had brought Vikram to his notice, after watching him play well in a satellite tournament on grass in England recently.
Interestingly Prahlad Srinath, the third ranking player in India with an ATP singles ranking of 708, has not been heard from by the selectors, who for their part rejected requests by both Srinath and leading Harsh Mankad to be considered for selection in absentia.
The selection camp will be held in Delhi on August 28. And joining Vikram are the likes of Gaurav Natekar, Susheel Narla, Sandeep Kirtane, Nitin Kirtane and Vasudev Reddy.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati, now in the middle of a dream run in international doubles competition and due to take part in the U S Open as the world's eighth ranked doubles combination, have already been automatically selected as India's first and second player for the tie.
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