May 24, 2017, Pune, India: HCL, a leading global conglomerate, is set to host the HCL Asian Junior Tennis Championship 2017, the most reputed tennis championship in the Asian circuit for the U/18 category. The Championship is being held in association with the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association and under the aegis of the International Tennis Federation (ITF); Asian Tennis Federation (ATF); and All India Tennis Association (AITA).
This is the only B1 category tournament in India and will take place from May 29 to June 03, 2017 at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi in Pune. Players from 11 countries in the region (Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Hong-Kong, Malaysia, China, Sri Lanka, Iran and India) are participating in the Championship.
HCL, through this Championship, aims to provide a much-needed platform to the Indian tennis players to compete against international players on their home turf. The Championship is the second highest tournament anywhere in the world after the junior grand slams, and provides top Indian players with a chance to compete against their global counterparts as well as earn valuable ITF points to build on their overall international ranking.
The six-day Championship will witness participation from over 100 Indian and international players in the Singles and Doubles categories for both boys and girls. Each category draw of 32, will include the top 22 players (based on their ITF ranking) who will get direct entry into the main draw and the remaining players will be drawn from the qualifying matches and wild cards. Eleven girls and eight boys in the main draws are from India.
Announcing the Championship, Sundar Mahalingam, Chief Strategy Officer, HCL Corporation and Shiv Nadar Foundation said, “Committed to its core brand philosophy of touching people’s lives, HCL has been investing significantly in promoting and nurturing sports in the country. While previously HCL has created and offered a national-level platform in the sub-junior category, this year we are bringing the Asian Junior Tennis Championship to India, which is the most prestigious tennis tournament in the region. The HCL Asian Junior Tennis Championship will provide the Indian juniors an opportunity to test their mettle against the top international players as well raise the overall standard of their game.”
Hon Secretary of the MSLTA Sunder Iyer said, “The Asian Junior Tennis Championship is second only to the junior grand slams and we are happy to join hands with HCL to host the event in India this year. Previously held in the country only once, it witnessed enthusiastic participation from top Asian players and we are delighted to see an even better response this year with players from 11 countries confirming to participate and ready to battle for the title.”
In 2016, Naoki Tajima from Japan (world ranking of 28) and Xiyu Wang from China (world ranking of 13) were the champions of the Asian Junior Tennis Champion.
