Leading Odisha players Ansu Kumar Bhuyan and Chinmay Pradhan are among four Indians who have been awarded main draw wild cards for the Odisha ITF Men’s Futures-I Tennis Tournament, starting here at Kalinga Stadium Tennis Complex from February 23.

A first-of-its-kind event in Odisha, the week-long tournament, carrying a total prize fund of $15,000, is being organised by Odisha Tennis Association (OTA) with the support of Sports & Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha. Details of the tournament were briefed in a press conference here today by OTA president Asit Tripathy, secretary Madhusudan Padhi and DSYS Secretary Vishal Dev.

Entries have been received from nine countries viz Germany, Argentina, Italy, Czech Republic, Russai, Chinese Taipei, Serbia, USA and France apart from host India. Main-draw competition in singles, featuring 20 direct entries, four wild cards and eight qualifiers, will take place from February 26. Sasi Kumar Mukund (India) has been awarded the top seed.

Main-draw competition will be preceded by qualifiers from February 24. The qualifying draw, involving 32 players, will have 26 direct entries and six wild cards. Odisha’s Pratyush Mohanty and Kabir Hans have been given wild cards for the qualifiers. The size of the doubles draw will be 16.

Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi would inaugurate the tournament on February 26 at 9.00 pm and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would meet the players and officials the same day at 6.30 pm. The CM would felicitate four young tennis players with cash incentives on the occasion. Odisha Sports Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera would grace the closing ceremony as chief guest.
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PHOTO: Officials of OTA along with Sports Department Secretary at the press conference in Bhubaneswar on Feb 22, 2018.