Players from 16 Countries to be seen in action at $10000 Endurance - MSLTA Women’s Futures

Aurangabad, February 11: Top women’s players from sixteen countries including India will be seen in action at the $10000 Endurance -MSLTA Women’s ITF Tennis Futures which will be organized by the Endurance MSLTA Marathwada Tennis Centre at the EMMTC Tennis complex in Aurangabad from February 12 - February 19th .

The championships which is being sponsored by Endurance Ltd will offer a total prize money of $ 10,000 (approx Rs5,00,000) and will be conducted under the auspices of the ITF , AITA and MSLTA .
Speaking to reporters the tournament director and the Treasurer of MSLTA Mr. Sunder Iyer and the chairperson of EMMTC Mrs. Varsha Jain   said that players from Japan, Korea, Belarus, Ukraine, Thailand , France ,Netherlands, Slovakia, Singapore ,China , Italy , Australia, Vietnam , Spain , Belarus, Israel apart from India   will be seen in action at the week long event.

“We are happy that the tournament has received a good and strong field from foreign players, we hope the event will help Indian players to make maximum number of points.

The field will be led by Sung-Hee HAN of Korea currently ranked in the top 400 and followed by Italian Nicole CLERICO (473) ,Varatchaya WONGTEANCHAI of Thailand, Kanae HISAMI of Japan , Ting LI of China , Anja PRISLAN of Slovenia and Ai YAMAMOTO of Japan.

The Indian challenge will be led by Fed Cup players Poojashree VENKATESHA and Aishwarya Shrivatsav , they added.

The tournament will also provide an opportunity to young tennis players from the MSLTA Vision programme Pratharna Thombare of Barshi and CYG Medalist Kyra Shroff to garner valuable points; both the players have been awarded the wild cards by the MSLTA. Two other talented players Sharmada Balu and Rushika Sunkara from Bengaluru and Delhi are the other talented juniors who have been awarded the wild cards for the main draw.

“We are glad to host so many talented players from around the world in the beautiful city of Aurangabad, we will ensure international atmosphere to the players " said Ms Varsha Jain Chairperson of EMMTC and Endurance the sponsors of the event.

The EMMTC which has been completed in three stages in a record 1 1/2 years has hosted three national level tournaments so far but will make a debut as an international venue which is a pride for the whole of Marathwada region, she added.

As Endurance we are extremely thrilled with the progress of the EMMTC and hope that in coming years we will be hosting many high level events including coaching activities. I would love to see a player from Marathwada play in high level events in the coming years, Mrs. Jain added.

The winner will receive 12 points and prize money of $1568, The runners up will receive 8 points and prize money of $980, the semifinalists 6 points and prize money of $490, the quarterfinalists 4 points and prize money of $245 and the pre quarterfinalist 1 points and$ 196 prize money while the main draw participant will get no points but a prize money of $98.

The doubles winner pair will get 12 points, the runners up 8, the Semifinalists 6 points, Quarterfinalist 1 point.

Pune's Gold Badge referee Sheetal Iyer has been appointed the ITF supervisor of the event while    city's white badge umpire Shriram Gokhale and Leena Nageshkar have been appointed as the White badge officials for the event.

A special organizing committee comprising of Mr. D L Guddin, Mr. Rajand Masad, , Mr. Sanjay Gade, Mr. Vardhaman Randive, Mr. Harshal Sharma, Mr. Gajendra Bhosale, Mr. Ganesh Makhvekar, Mr. Arshad Desai, , Mr. Ravi Kathavi , Mr. Makarand Kulkarni and Mrs. Kumkum Choudhary has been formed for the successful conduct of the event.

EMMTC has also planned a clinic for youngsters from the centre with the international stars   and also the students of the EMMTC will have an opportunity to work as ball kids and will be seen for matches’ semifinals onwards to have a closer view of the international stars, Mr. Iyer added.

The main draw of the event will be played from Monday onwards, while the qualifying rounds of the event will begin on Saturday. Tickets will be available at the EMMTC centre, while tennis players will be given free entry to watch the matches. The semifinals and the Finals of the tournament will be shown Live on Doordarshan.