Pranjala to lead Indian challenge at Asian Junior ITF Meet

Defending girls' champion Pranjala Yadlapalli would lead the home country's challenge in BVG India-MSLTA B1 ITF Asian Junior Tennis Championships to be held here from April 30 to May 7.
The tournament is being held for the first time in Maharashtra.
Players from 15 Asian countries are to take part in the championship which is restricted to players of the continent and commands the highest points on the ITF calendar.
Considered as a launch pad for Asian players, it also provides opportunities to the continent's players to make it to major junior Grand Slam events of the year.
The notable junior player from overseas will Japan's Toru Horie (boys') and Yuki Naito (girls') who will be vying for the title.

"We are happy that by hosting such events in Pune and Maharashtra we are helping our players gain valuable ITF points playing at home," said Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association's secretary and tournament director, Sunder Iyer.

The cost of hosting the event would be Rs 15 lakh and includes full hospitality to the players and one coach per participating nation in the main draw, he said.
In the past Indian players like Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Harsh Mankad, Karan Rastogi, Sandeep Kirtane, Sania Mirza, Isha Lakhani, Rutuja Bhosale and Snehadevi Reddy had emerged champions.
India's top junior among girls, Pranjala, would be seeded second. The champions will get 180 ITF points, runners-up would get 120 while the semi-finalists, quarterfinalist 60 and pre quarter-finalists would get 80, 60 and 30 points respectively.

First round losers in singles maind draw would get 20 points. The doubles winner would get 120 ITF points, runners-up 80, semi-finalists 60 and quarter-finalists 30 points while pre quarter finalists stand to gain 20 points.
Only 10 Indians, apart from Pranjala Yadlapalli, are to feature in the main draw at the cut-off. B Ravikumar Nikshep, Vasisht Cheruku, Dhruv Sunish and Udayan Bhakar would feature in the boys' singles main draw, while in the girls' main draw Zeel Desai, Mahak Jain, Mihika Yadav, Nidhi Surapaneni, Sathwika Sama and Snehal Mane, along with Pranjala.