The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Nike Junior Tour's Masters from Sept. 29

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Sunday, Sep 26, 2004

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Nike Junior Tour's Masters from Sept. 29

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 25 . The Nike Junior Tour's Masters event will be conducted by the Bhupathi Tennis Academy at the Nike Bhupathi Tennis Village (NBTV) here from September 29 to October 2.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Krishna Bhupathi, Director of the NBTV said that the winner of the Bangalore event would get to play in the Nike Junior Tour's international Masters championship, to be held in Club Pompadour in France from Oct. 30 to Nov. 6. About 21 countries will participate in the NJT International Masters event.

The Nike Masters at Bangalore would have events for under-12 and under-14 boys and girls.

The qualifiers for under-12 section were spotted after a series of select tournament in which NJT had associated itself with the AITA. The best eight boys and girls, have been invited to the finals in the under-12 events, where there is no point system in place and for the under-14 event, NJT used the National ranking (held on Aug. 2) as the base to shortlist eight qualifiers.

Mr. Krishna Bhupathi said that the championship in Bangalore, provided a major boost for the grassroot tennis in the country. "The players get a taste of what is in store for them in future if they reach a certain level. All the participants in the Nike Masters Tour here will be put up in a five star hotel, have chauffer driven cars to take them to courts and fully loaded court facilities, which is hardly seen in any junior event in the country," he said.

Mr. Bhuapthi Sr. said that the Indian kids impressed in their first NJT International Masters held in Sun City, South Africa in 2002. "Sanaa Bhambri reached the semifinals and the kids made a big impact. Though last year, they didn't do particularly well, I expect some good show in France from youngsters like Yuki Bhambri," he added.

Mr. Bhupathi also announced that an AITA Talent Series for under-14 and under-12 players will be conducted along with Nike Masters. "I specifically requested AITA to allot the same dates, so that children playing the Talent Series can watch players in the Masters event and set their goals higher," he said.

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