International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women’s 25K is set to take place between February 26 and March 5, 2023, in Bengaluru at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence.
The tournament is expected to draw quality women’s tennis players who will battle it out for the crown in both the singles and doubles categories. The qualifying rounds will be played on February 26 and February 27 with the main draw is set to begin on Tuesday.
The tournament promises to be a good experience for both players and spectators, as Ankita Raina, a World No 245, and World No 265 Karman Kaur Thandi are the top-ranked Indian women’s players who will participate in the tournament. Playing alongside them will be two younger players who train at the PBI – CSE tennis academy, Sahaja Yamalapalli and Soha Sadiq.
Vivek Kumar, Founder of Padukone – Dravid Centre of Sports Excellence said, “Through this international tennis tournament, the Padukone – Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence aims to promote and develop women’s tennis in the country. A tournament of this calibre helps women tennis players of our country gain the much-needed ITF points to climb up in the world tennis rankings. Not only do they gain crucial points, but it also benefits them financially as they save on the travel costs which they would have spent to commute to foreign countries to play in ITF tournaments”.
The tournament is the premier event sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and will be hosted under the aegis of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), and Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA).
“We welcome Padukone – Dravid Centre of Sports Excellence and Vivek Kumar as the hosts for this tournament. They have excellent facilities and it will be a great experience for the participants. I wish Indian players the best of luck and hope they make the best of this opportunity to impress the fans with some brilliant performances,” Maheshwar Rao, Honorary Secretary, KSLTA, said. (ANI)