Purav Raja qualifies for Wimbledon championships

London: Purav Raja and Marcelo Demoliner booked a berth in the men`s doubles event of the Wimbledon Championships after shocking top seeded Germans Gero Kretchmer and Alex Satschko in the final qualifying round, here.

The fifth seed Indo-Brazilian partner came back from behind for a 4-6 6-1 6-4 victory in the second and final round of the Qualifiers. Now at least five Indians, with different partners, are set to compete in the doubles event of the grass court Grand Slam. Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan are the other Indians who have got direct entry. Last year, Purav had played at the Wimbledon with Sharan. This year, left-handed Sharan has got a direct entry with Taipei`s Yen Hsun-Lu. Purav and Demoliner opened up a 3-1 lead in the opening set but could not cash on the advantageous position. However, they came back strong and saved a break point while serving for the match. Demoliner smashed winner to seal their spot in the main draw. They had edges past India`s Somdev and Russia`s Evgeny Donskoy 7-5 7-5 in the first round after being down 2-5 in the opening set.