PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Nov 9 : Matches for the Tata Steel AITA U-18 Tennis Championship Series 2021 kicked off today at the JRD Tata Sports Complex.
The matches which began at 8.30 am will continue throughout the day. The national ranking junior tennis championship is held in Jamshedpur after a gap of almost a decade.
The championship is taking place at the newly constructed deco turf tennis courts. The championship will conclude on November 12.
The championship has two event categories: Singles and Doubles, for boys and girls.
The five-day tennis championship is being organised by Tata Steel in association with the Jharkhand Tennis Association under the guidelines of AITA.
All Covid-19 related safety guidelines and protocols have been ensured, said the organisers.
The top two seeds of boys singles under -18, Shagnik Bose and Keshav Goel are from the neighbouring state of West Bengal.
The girls singles under- 18 category also reflects a similar picture where the top two seeds, namely Sumeira Jaiswal and Rituja Saha are also from West Bengal.
Alongwith some of the top-ranked players from different parts of the country, Jharkhand participants are also expected to make a mark in this ongoing championship, since six players have booked a slot for themselves in the main draw, namely Subhrodeep Bhattacharya, Vinayak Agiwal and Siddharth Verma in the boys section whereas Anshika Raj, Swati Verma and Aditi Saha in the girls category.