Good response to Asian Under-14 event in Chennai

Chennai, Aug 24 (UNI) The city will host one leg of the Asian Under-14 series, being promoted by Tennis Australia, at the Gandhinagar sports club clay courts from August 27 to September 3.

Announcing this at a press conference here last night, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) Secretary M P Shankar said so far 64 entries have been received for the event which would comprise boy's and girl's singels and doubles.

Indian challenge for boys will be led by top ranked players, including number three Jugal Marfatia and number six Sai Teja Paladugu, Vishwesh Singha and Irfan Hussain. Sri Lanka's Aravind and Sanjiv Fernado will also be in fray.

In the girls section, Thailand's Isabella Dale has confirmed her participation while top Indian challenge will comprise of Shweta C Rana -- the country's number three in this age group, Aishwarya Agarwal-- number four and Ankit Raina -- number six.

The event is an opportunity for players in this age group to break into the senior level, Mr Shankar added.

In the sub continent, the prestigious event is also being held in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. The winners from various legs would take part in the Masters Event to be held in Melbourne before the Australian Open.

While the qualifying rounds would be held from tomorrow, the singles main draw of 32 -- 18 direct entries, four qualifiers and four wild cards by host nation and six by ATP -- will begin on August 27. The doubles main draw, comprising 16 entries, will begin on August 28.

In singles, all the palyers will play a minimum of five matches.

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