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Preparations in final stages for the AITA U-14 tennis tournament

BERHAMPUR: Preparations are at final stages for the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series 2011 for ‘under-14 years boys and girls' which is going to be inaugurated in the city on Monday.

 This four-day tournament is being organised by the Ganjam District Tennis Association (GDTA) under the aegis of Orissa Tennis Association (OTA). Speaking about the preparations for the tournament at a press meet on Friday, secretary of the GDTA, Arjun Swain who also happens to be the director of this Talent Series Tournament informed that 53 top players of ‘under 14-years' category from States like Orissa Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh etc are to participate in this tournament. They include 37 boys and 16 girls.

Vice-president of the OTA Jitendra Choudhury and president incharge of the GDTA Milan Patra who are closely monitoring the preparations were also present in the press meet. There would be singles and doubles matches in both boys and girls category. All matches of the tournament would be played at the two clay courts at the ‘Union Club' premises of the city.

 Mr. Choudhury and Mr. Patra said this tournament bears great importance for the budding tennis talents of the country as they can gather valuable points for their AITA ranking from it. Winner of the tournament would get 15 points, runners up 12 points, semi-finalists are to get 10 points, quarter finalists would have six points, pre-quarter finalists will get five points and the participants who'll win first round would be able to garner three points for their AITA ranking.

In the boys category the top seeded player of the tournament is Shakti Ray followed by Abhilash Mishra, both of whom are from Orissa. In the girls' category Sai Kirti from Andhra Pradesh is the top seeded player attending the tournament.

It may be noted that since 2006 the GDTA is organising AITA tennis tournaments in the city. These tournaments are aimed at promoting tennis among the youngsters of the city.

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Preparations in final stages for the AITA U-14 tennis tournament

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