Bengaluru to host ATP Challenger

The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) will host an ATP Challenger tournament with $50,000 as prize money after a gap of 12 years from October 19 to 25 at the KSLTA Stadium here.

According to a KSLTA release on Monday, India's top singles players Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri besides Ramkumar Ramanathan among others are expected to participate.

"We at KSLTA are proud to host this ATP Challenger as such tournaments provide opportunities for budding international players from the country and state to participate and compete against their international counter parts," KSLTA senior vice-president R. Ashoka said.

All India Tennis Association (AITA) joint secretary Sunder Raju said: "We are very excited to bring back the ATP Challenger to Bengaluru after a gap of 12 years.

"With three players in the top-200, five in top-500 and 35 others ranked on the ATP tour, we feel this is the time to have more Challenger events in India which would help our players with the required competition to move up in world rankings with reduced expenses and advantage of home conditions."

The ATP Bengaluru Challenger Tour event offers 80 points to the winner and 48 to the runner-up.