Chance for tennis players to make mark in Asia

Young tennis players of Orissa have been given an opportunity to gain international experience by participating the Asian Under-14 Tennis Tournament starting under the joint auspices of All India Tennis Association (AITA) and Orissa Tennis Association (OTA) at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar tomorrow. Pune boy Anvit Bendre and Andhra Pradesh girl Mrinilini Alla have been given the top billings for the singles events. Anvit is currently ranked 21st in Asia, while Mrinalini occupies the third place. Local favourite and Asia No 55 Ansu Kumar Bhuyan has been seeded third among boys. Four other Orissa boys — Shakti Ray, Adwithiya Pattnaik, Avilash Mishra, Purushottam Das — have found places in the main draw with the help of wild cards. No girl from Orissa has made it to the main draw directly. However, wild cards have given host state’s Mitali Padhi, Shikshya Dhawan and Avilipsa Rath entry into the 32-girls main draw. Altogether 74 boys and 62 girls, all belonging to India, have entered the six-day tournament, which is being conducted for the first time in Orissa. ‘‘We did not receive any foreign entry due to problem in flight connectivity. Moreover, Indian youngsters are now a days dominating the continental circuit and we will be seeing many of them in action here,’’ tournament director Madhusudan Padhi said at press conference in Bhubaneswar today. According to tournament referee Joy Mukherjee, qualifying matches with a draw of 32 for both boys and girls singles will start tomorrow followed by the main-draw action on March 30. Six hard courts, including four with flood lights, will be used for the purpose. The tennis complex of the Kalinga Stadium has been given a facelift with renovation of two courts. Davis Cupper Akhtar Ali is scheduled to grace the closing ceremony as chief guest on April 4. In the main draw, each player will get to play five matches. Asian ranking points will be awarded to players securing first to 31st positions. Singles title winner will get 300 points, while one point will be given for the 31st position. ‘‘A budget of Rs 5 lakh has been estimated for the successful hosting of the event,’’ said Padhi, also the secretary of OTA. Entry fee has been set at Rs 2,000 per player. MAIN DRAW LIST: Boys singles: Direct entries: Anvit Bendre, Kuwar Singh Tater, Ansu Kumar Bhuyan, MS Rakshith, Richie Agarwal, Dheeranush Singh, Nishanth Anthony, Hardeep Singh Sindhu, Dhruv Goyal, Aayush Mintri, Ayush Poddar, Nikhil Kannan, SD Prajwaldev, Ishank Ravi, N Venkkata Ramanan, Garvit Batra, Shaik Abdullah, TS Jude Raymond. Wild cards: M Nazim Dawla, Ishaque Eqbal, Nishat Eqbal, Dhir Gala, N Anirudh Yadav, Shakti Ray, Adwithiya Pattnaik, Avilash Mishra, Purushottam Dash, Snehanshu Sarangi. Girls singles: Direct entries: Mrinalini Alla, Rimpledeep Kaur, Jasmine Kaur Bajaj, Sayesha B Dalal, B Moulika Ram, P Sri Vaishnavi, Vasundara Raju, Pooja Kudesia, Rajbir Kaur, Kavya Bharat, Tahira Bhatti, Srijita Ghosh, Prabhuti Singhania, M Saranya Sivani, Ria Bhatia, Surya Tejaswini, K Bhuvana, Amreen Sheikh. Wild cards: Kajal Chawla, Lavanya Saravanan, Ashwini Suresh, Shambhavi Dixith, Ambika Pande, Mitali Padhi, Shikshya Dhawan, Avilipsa Rath, Avipsa Rath, Adriya Banerjee.