By Jagpreet Sandhu ,Chandigarh, January 6 : The India ITF Junior-1 (Group 3) will begin on January 9 at the Sector 10 Tennis Stadium and Lake Club courts. Players from 20 countries are staking their claim for the top honours in the event.
Rishab Agarwal of India is the highest ranked player with an ITF ranking of 159 in the fray. Chi-Shan Jao of Chinese Taipei (159) is the second highest ranked player is also expected to be seen in action. He is just one point behind top ranked Rishab Aggarwal.
Other Indians in the tornament are Abdullah Shaikh (181) Sahil Deshmukh (272), Vilasier Khate (287), Karan Salwan (418), Kumara P Saradhi Adavelly (517) and Rakshit Rishi (664). Dhruv Pal, Sultan Singh Atwal, Smart Rana, Raghav Tauwar, Adhayan Bhanu got wild card entry in the qualifying draw of 32.
With players taking part in the competitions from India, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Japan, Belgium, Great Britain, Uzbekisan, Crotia, South Africa, Russia, Korea, Bangladesh, Ireland, Australia and Canada, Indonesia, Serbia, Germany, Singapore, Romania and Egypt, contest is likely to be razor sharp in the boys section.
Apart from boys seven Indian girls aslo got entry into the main draw of 32 on the basis of their ITF rankings. They are Ambika Pande (213) , Spurti Shivalingaiah (265), Tarranum Handa (306), Simran Kaur Sethi (310), Nayanika Reddy Devireddy (401), Natasha Palha (450) and Sai Samhitha Chamarathi (560). The Indian girls who got wild cards are: Devanshi Bhimjivani, Bhavya Wadhawan, Charvi Saxena and Ankita Bishnoi.
Rajan Kashyap, former Punjab Chief Secretary, said that Punjab Sports Director Padam Shree Pargat Singh will inaugurate the tournament which begins on 9th January.