Marina Open wheelchair tennis tournament from August 7

Over 40 players will take part in the third edition of the Marina Open AITA ranking wheelchair tennis tournament to be held at the SDAT tennis stadium here from August 7 to 10.

Tamil Nadu Tennis Association President Vijay Amritraj hailed the efforts to promote wheelchair tennis in India.

"It is important that tennis spreads far and wide and included the differently-abled," he told reporters here Friday.

He was confident that the players from India would make a mark at the international level soon.

Indian Wheelchair Tennis Tour chairman Sunil Jain said the tournament would benefit the players adding the fact that the participation had increased was a good sign.

The number of entries for the men's event is 34-- 19 from Karnataka, 13 from Tamil Nadu and one from the United Kingdom.

Shankar Veerasway of Karnataka is the top-seed followed by S Balachander (TN).

In the women's event, there are a total of 8 entries (7 from Karnataka and 1 from the host state) with Prathima Rao ..