India may seek Olympics wildcard for Sania

New Delhi: Concerned at the drop in Sania Mirza's ranking, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) is planning to get a wildcard entry for the Hyderbadi for the singles event at the London Olympics this year.

AITA is keen that Sania competes in the mixed doubles event of the Olympics and Sania has to be there in either the singles or the doubles draw to be able to compete in mixed event.

If Sania manages to be inside top-64 in the singles and top-10 in the doubles, she will get a direct entry.

However, Sania has moved out of the top-100 at the start of the year and is currently placed at 105 in singles.

The top-64 players will get a direct entry into the singles draw and if Sania fails to get into that bracket, AITA will ask the organising commitee for a wildcard entry.

Sania still has time to improve her ranking as the deadline to send the entry with the players' name is June 21, 2012 and the rankings as of June 11, 2012 will be considered for acceptance.

If Sania's ranking does not improve by that time, an application for her wildcard will be sent along with the list of the players' name.

The issue was discussed by the Tennis Advisory Committee (TAC) of AITA on Thursday.

"Definitely we want her there, whichever way," SP Misra, India's Davis Cup captain and a member of the TAC, told PTI.

"If she improves upon her current ranking, well and good, otherwise we will request for a wildcard. In the mock draw held last year, both Sania and Somdev had made the cut," Misra added.

Sania's first-ever Grand Slam title came in the mixed doubles of the Australian Open in 2009 with Mahesh Bhupathi and she had success in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games as well in the mixed doubles competitions.

She won gold at 2006 Doha Asian Games and silver at 2010 Guangzhou Games. She also won silver at CWG 2010.

The committee was also concerned at the injury of Somdev Devvarman and suggested that the Davis Cup Selection Committee should pick five players for the next tie, with three of them being able to play singles.

The TAC also wanted the government to help AITA organise ATP and WTA tournaments in India.