ITF Juniors to feature in 18 nation battle-royale

Kolkata, Jan 18 (UNI) Participants from 18 countries, including the hosts, will participate in the ONGC-ITF Junior Tennis championship to be held from January 21 to 26 by the Dakshin Kalikata Sansad (DKS) here.

Tournament Director Hironmoy Chatterjee said here today, ''After successfully organising the ITF Junior Circuit for the past few years and pioneering in getting the same to India, we have been entrusted once again to hold this prestigious World Ranking championship this year.

''DKS has earned the distinction of hosting Grade three category tournament,'' he said.

While the winner takes home 60 points in singles, the points earned for doubles is 50.

While the singles, both boys and girls, will be a draw of 32, the doubles will be of 16.

B Vikram Reddy of India and Grace Sari Ysidora of Indonesia are the top seeds in the tournament.

Entries for the Championship are very encouraging as entries have been received from 18 countries, including Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Russia, Belarus, Japan, Kazakhstan, Great Britain, New Zealand, Italy, Georgia, Thailand, Belgium, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkeministan, besides the host country India.

The draw of 32 will be divided into a direct entry of 24, four qualifiers and four wild cards. This time all the wild cards have been given to the Indians to promote the game here. In the boys section, the wild cards are Bibaswa Deb, N Sai Kartik, Prithiv Sivasubramanium and Priyank Gangadharan.

In the girls' section, wild cards have been given to Amrita Mukherjee, Shweta C Rana, Sushma Gutta and Vaniya Dangwal. However, with Sharon Sanchana Paul withdrawing with a back pain, Shweta has been given a direct berth.

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