City's Sara, Maithili get wild card entry

City's talented tennis players Sara Gajbhiye and Maithili Mote have been given wild card entries in the prestigious MSLTA ITF $15000 Women's World Tour Tennis Tournament 2022 beginning at MSLTA Tennis Academy, Ram Nagar.

The qualifying rounds will be played on February 27 and 28 and the main draw matches will be played from March 1 to March 6.

while addressing the media persons at SJAN office on Saturday MSLTA secretary Sunder Iyer said, " The international tennis tournament has been allotted to Nagpur after a gap of two decades. The Women's World Tour Tennis Tournament is a format that attracts players from all over the world. As many as 12 foreign players from the countries like Italy, Austria, Thailand, USA, Germany, Russia and Denmark are participating in the tournament", he said.

The women singles main draw will be of 32 and 16 of doubles. From qualifying rounds six will make it to main draw and four will be given wild card entries.

Iyer also said , " We are following the Covid protocol and have not invited the general public. However, some school students will be given entry to watch the game".

Elawalla Dharaka from Sri Lanka will be the tournament supervisor and he will be supported by umpires from India including Supriya Chaterjee from Nagpur, Santosh Venkatraman (Bengaluru), Saikat Roy (Kolkata), Riya Chapekar and Lalveen Raizada. They will be supported by a team of 15 line umpires and 20 ball pickers. Dr Sudhir Bhiwapurkar has been appointed as tournament director. ITF and AITA have extended technical support from the tournament.

Maharashtra minister Sunil Kedar will inaugurate the tournament on March 1 at 10 a.m. Life president of MSLTa Sharad Kannamwar, Suner Iyer along with vice-president Rajiv Desai, Dr Sudhir Bhiwaprkar, Vijay Naidu, Vikram Naidu, Ganesh Pagay, Murli Asudani and Rajan Nair will attend the function.

NDHTA executive committee member Ashok Bhiwapurkar, Shreekrishna Buty, Rohit Kale, Dr Darshan Dakshindas, Behram Patel, Dr Mahesh Kriplani are working hard under the guidance of president Kumar Kale for the success of the tournament.