Somani, Bhat head Indian challenge

Parikshit Somani of Assam, with an ATF ranking of nine, leads the Indian challenge in the Karle Infra ATF Under-14 Series to be held at the Sadashivanagar Club here May 20-25.

The tournament, sanctioned by Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) and being conducted under the auspices of All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA), also has Kabir Manrai of Chandigarh (ranking 30) and local lad Adil Kalyanpur (90) besides Sai Pranav Ponaka and Varun Venkat.

In the girls section, Tanvi Bhat of Karnataka, who has an ATF ranking of 18, leads the challenge and others in fray include Sama Sathvika, Shivanu Swarup, Shaikh Humera and Megha Muthukumar.

Karnataka's promising players Shivani Manjanna and Anirudh Murthy have been granted wild cards in girls and boys singles, respectively.

The main draw of the tournament will be preceded by qualifying rounds at the KSLTA Stadium May 18 and 19. The matches up to quarterfinals will be played at the KSLTA Stadium and thereafter the action will shift to Sadashivanagar courts.

Joy Mukherjee of Bengal will be the chief referee and Sunil Yajaman the tournament director, it was announced at a media conference, here Thursday.