ITF Juniors brings 11 nations to Kolkata

Kolkata, Jan 11 (UNI) Rifat Biktyakov of Uzbekistan and Sophia Mulsap of Thailand are seeded at the top of the boys and girl's charts in the Tier III ITF Junior Meet commencing January 15 that features eleven countries, including India.

Rifat ranked 187 and Sophia ranked 157 are the top seeds, with Vijayant Malik (247) and Sweta Solanki (259) the highest ranked Indians in the respective categories, Mr Hironmoy Chatterjee, DKS Sapokesperson, said here today.

Fourteen Indian boys have got direct entries, while seven have made it in the girls' section.

Shivika Burman had made her entry into the event, but had pulled out after a wild card in the Australian Open Qualifiers (girls).

Three wild cards have been given to Bibaswan Deb and Harshvardhan Thirani of West Bengal and Yuki Bhambri of Delihi. Yuki is the brother of Sana and Ankita Bhambri. Treta Bhattacharyya and Dipti Srivasta (both West Bengal) have been given wild cards in the girls' category. Two places have been preserved for AITA.

ITF Junior Tennis, a premier event of Dakshin Kalikata Sansad (DKS) calendar, will be held from January 15 to 20 on its Deshapriya Park red clay courts this year.

The professional approach and personalised attention given to each individual participating player has earned DKS the distinction of hosting Grade 3 category tournament. It has also had the distinction of being voted the Best Organised Tournament in 2002 by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

There will be 24 direct entries, 4 wild cards and 4 qualifiers.

UNI