The cream of young talent will be seen in action in the Asian closed junior (under-18) tennis championships at the SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium and Presidency Club from May 16 to 21.
Players from nine countries, including India, Philippines, Japan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand and Kuwait, will take part in the tournament which will have boys' and girls' singles and doubles.
Xin is top seed
Gao Xin (China) is the top seed in the boys' section while Ayaka Okuno (Japan) is seeded No. 1 in girls.
The Indian participation consists of second seed Arjun Kadhe, Rakshay Thakkar (3), Vinod Gowda (4), Saurabh Singh (5), Ronit Singh Bisht (8) and Mohit Mayur in boys, and Rishika Sunkara (2), G. Prarthana Thombare (4), Natasha Palha (5), Ratnika Batra (7), Kanika Vaidya (9) in girls.
Karti P. Chidambaram, Vice-President, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA), said the championship was called “closed” because it was open only to Asian tennis players.
The tournament, Karti insisted, was well represented.
Direct entry
The singles winners would get a whopping 180 ITF points and a direct entry into the junior French Open and Wimbledon. “It's a big opportunity for the Indians,” he added.
Hiten Joshi, Tournament Director, said the early rounds would be held at Presidency and SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium while the climactic phase would be held at the SDAT Stadium.
“The heat rule will come into effect for the tournament and it will be decided by the chief referee in consultation with the physio and the doctor,” said Joshi.
AITA's objective
C.B.N. Reddy, Secretary, TNTA, spoke about the All India Tennis Association's (AITA) objective of holding more international tournaments in the country to provide Indians enough opportunities to garner ATP/ITF points.
“This year alone, 17 ITF men's, 15 ITF women's and 10 ITF junior tournaments are being held in the country.
“This is an all-time record,” he said.
