All the four wild cards for the main draw of the L&T $115,000 WTA tennis tournament to be staged at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) courts from February 5, have been given to the Indian players_Ankita Raina, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Rutuja Bhosale and Vaishnavi Adkar.
A pretty strong field for the tournament meant that none of the Indian players could gain direct entry for the event.
More Indian players can aspire to make the main draw through the qualifying event to be held on February 3 and 4.
While the organising committee members Sanjay Khandare and Pravin Darade thanked the title sponsor Larsen & Toubro in a press conference on Thursday, the Chairman of the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA), Prashant Sutar thanked the Maharasshtra government for consistently supporting the game.
“We are thankful to the government of Maharashtra for the support to tennis that has helped us in conducting ATP Tour events, Davis Cup ties, Challengers and WTA events”, said Sutar.
Further emphasising the point, the president of MSLTA, Bharat Oza said that the State had hosted tennis events to the tune of Rs.3.5 crore prize money last year.
Thee president of the tennis committee of CCI, Sanju Kothari expressed happiness about hosting the world class event, which had witnessed Aryna Sabalenka win the title at the same venue in 2017.
“”It is a privilege for CCI to host the prestigious event. We have ensured world class playing facilities. The CCI has newlly laid courts to match the standard laid down by the WTA. We have also built a centre court with a seating capacity of 1000”, said Sanju Kothari.
The secretary of MSLTA, Sunder Iyer, announced that Grand Slam supervisor Kerrilyn Kramer of Australia would lead a 10-member officiating team, with Sheetal Iyer as the referee, and Leena Nageshkar as the Chief of Umpires.
Published - February 02, 2024 03:54 am IST
