Kirtane, Sharmada top seeds

Veteran Nitin Kirtane and Sharmada Balu were given top billing in the men's and women's singles respectively in the third All-India prize money tennis championship organized by Stalwart Sports at the KSLTA Stadium here Sep 9-14.

The tournament, being conducted under the auspices of the AITA and KSLTA, is sponsored by DS Max Group, a leading Real Estate and Construction company in Bangalore and it carries an overall prize money of Rs.3.5 lakh which is one of the highest in South India.

The individual men's and women's champions will receive Rs.27,300 and Rs.18,200, respectively, while the purse for the runners-up is Rs.18,900 (men) and Rs.12,600 (women), it was announced here Wednesday.

Besides the two singles events, there will also be men's and women's doubles. As in the past, the tournament has attracted cream of Indian players, including the rising stars of the game like Mohit Mayur, P.C. Vignesh and Ashwin Vijayaraghavan.

In the women's section, the top draw will be the local girl Sharmada Balu, while a clutch of young talent like Sai Samhita, Nupur Kaul and Manya Nagpal will also be seen in action.

The main draw commencing on Sep 9 will be preceded by qualifying rounds on Sep 7 and 8 with top eight advancing to the tournament proper.

The main draw also includes four wild cards, besides 20 direct entrants. The wild cards will be named by the organisers before the commencement of main draw.

Dayanand, DS Max Group managing director, said: "I am happy to be associated with Stalwart Sports and Kiran Nandakumar (of Stalwart Sports) for this prestigious event and I look forward to a long term association with them."