India’s Sumit Nagal appeals to Chinese officials after visa denied for Grand Slam tennis qualifier

BRISBANE Australia AP India s top-ranked male tennis participant is appealing to Chinese officers after saying he was denied a visa to compete in an Australian Open wild-card playoff tournament beginning Nov in Chengdu Sumit Nagal took to social media to ask the Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong and the Chinese embassy to intervene on his behalf I am supposed to fly to China soon to represent India at the Australian Open playoff Nagal posted Tuesday But my visa was rejected without reason Your urgent help would be much appreciated Australian Open functionaries were demanded for comment on Wednesday The Australian Open the first Grand Slam event of the year begins Jan in Melbourne Relations between the two Asian powers and with the two largest populations in the world have improved lately India and China last month planned to resume direct flights between several of their cities after a five-year suspension as the relations between the two countries begin to thaw Press Trust of India broadcasted there d been no immediate response from the embassy or playoff organizers One of the -year-old Nagal s career highlights was taking the opening set of a U S Open match against Roger Federer in But Federer won the next three sets to advance to the second round Nagal had a career-high singles ranking of in July but his current ranking is He has been a member of India s Davis Cup crew since In January he lost in the first round at the Australian Open and failed to make it through qualifying for the French Open and Wimbledon He won the Wimbledon boys doubles title with Vietnam s Ly Hoang Nam becoming the sixth Indian competitor to win a junior Grand Slam title The Australian Open s Asia-Pacific wild-card playoff is scheduled for Nov - at the Sichuan International Tennis Centre It s a -player men s and women s singles event and teams in men s and women s doubles In last year s Asia-Pacific playoff also held in Chengdu Zhang Shuai of China and Thailand s Kasidit Samrej secured places in the main draw of the Australian Open Zhang defeated American McCartney Kessler in the first round in Melbourne before losing to th-seeded Yulia Putintseva in the second Samrej who had never competed at a Grand Slam venue not even in qualifying extended fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev to five sets before losing in the first round AP tennis https apnews com hub tennis Source