The Hindu : Sport : ITF Futures tournament from September 1

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ITF Futures tournament from September 1

Chennai: “Tennis runs in the veins of the Gandhi Nagar Club,” Ashok Verghese of the Hindustan Group of Institutions, said speaking on behalf of the sponsors during a press meet at the Club late on Thursday.

Gandhi Nagar Club, under the auspices of Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA), will host its successive GNC-Verghese ITF Futures tennis tournament from September 1 to 6 (the qualifying rounds will be played on Saturday and Sunday).

The prize money for the tournament has been increased from $10,000 last year to $15,000 this time around. Clay will be the surface for the competition and Wilson Championship balls will be used for the men’s singles and doubles events.

The Tournament Director, T.N. Ananth, said the competition would feature a good mix of foreign and Indian players. Contenders from India, Germany, Kazakhstan, Korea, Pakistan and Uzbekistan will figure in the tournament.

Germany’s Alex Satchko, ranked 344 in the ATP list, will be the highest-ranked player in the field. Some of the prominent Indians such as Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, Ashutosh Singh, Divij Sharan, Rohan Gajjar and Vishnu Vardhan will take part in the tournament

Mr. Ananth added that apart from the Ganghi Nagar Club courts, the ones in the Indira Nagar Club and the MCC could also be used for practice and the conduct of some matches.

B. Venkatesh, past president, Ganghi Nagar Club, welcomed the gathering. V.R. Ramanathan, Secretary, TNTA, thanked the sponsors, including the Adityan family. Hiten Joshi, CEO, TNTA, stressed the competitive field.

Sheetal Iyer will be the ITF Referee. Prof. Narasimhan is in the panel of officials.

Pradeep misses century

J. Pradeep missed a century by just one run but helped Districts I reach 231 against City I on the opening of the TNCA round-robin under-16 cricket tournament being held here. In reply, City I was 65 for no loss in 15 overs.

The scores: Districts I 231 in 80.5 overs (J. Pradeep 99, K.G. Siranjeevi 75, Jitinder Scidanandh four for 63, Shikar Hukku three for 41) vs. City I 65 for no loss in 15 overs (V. Ganga Sridhar Raju 37 n.o., Abhishek Mehra 25 n.o.)

Districts II 232 in 81.4 overs (B. Gowtham 39, P.S. Nirmal Kumar 35, R. Gugan 26, V. Vijay Anand 29, K. Karthik 26 n.o., R. Nilesh Subramaniam 25, M. Siddharth three for 24) vs. City III 18 for no loss in six overs.

St. Gabriel’s in last four

St. Gabriel’s scored a thumping 6-1 win over St. Paul’s to enter the semifinals of the Fr. Mohanraj Memorial Trophy inter-School football tournament, being conducted by the Don Bosco Youth Centre at Broadway here. Arivunithi (2), Bryson (2), Isaac and M. Venkatesan were the scorers.

Other results: Quarterfinals: Doveton Corrie 2 (Fazel, Dwayne Teller) bt St. Bede’s 0; St. John’s IRS 2 (Somesh 2) bt Don Bosco (Perambur) 1 (A. Dominic); Vidya Mandir 2 (Varun 2) bt Doveton Corrie Matric 1 (Karthik).

Santhosh is skipper

C. Santhosh Kumar (Tiruchi) will lead Tamil Nadu in the Administrators Challenge Cup under-17 football tournament at Chandigarh from September 1 to 9. The team was selected after the trials held in Madurai, according to TFA Secretary, A. Sadatcharam.

Very few players had taken part from Chennai and none could make it to the team.

The team: B. Vigneswaran, M. Ganasekaran, B. Santhosh, R. Soundarapandian (all from Tiruchi), R. Bharath Arun, A. Sakthivel, V. Pradeep Raju, M. Sarath Kumar (all from Tiruvallur), C. Ayyavu, C. Raja (both Madurai); Edwin Sydney Vanspaul, T.G. Rajaguru (both Cuddalore), S.S. Dhian, Akash Ghat (both Coimbatore), Y. Dilipkumar (Tirunelveli), Mariselvam (Dindigul) and B. Abilash (Nilgiris); Officials: M. Elango (TNP, Madurai) and K.V. Govindaraj (Tiruvallur).

Inter-school football

The Chennai Football Association will conduct an inter-school under-13 boys’ tournament at St. Patrick’s Anglo-Indian HSS, Adyar, from September 3 to 7.

On Sept. 7, trials will be held at the same venue at 2.30 p.m. to select the CFA u-13 team which will take part in a football festival at Udhagamandalam. The trials are open to players born on or after January 1, 1996.

The last date for entries for the u-13 tournament is September 2. Call E. Sugumaran, Secretary, CFA. Ph: 94442-54658 for details.

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