NECC - ITF WOMEN'S TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Players from 16 countries to be seen in action at $25000 NECC- ITF Women's Tennis Championships.

Pune, November 5: The city will witness women's tennis players from 16 countries along with top Indian players in action at the 8th edition of the$25,000 NECC - ITF Women's Tennis Championships which will be organized by the Deccan Gymkhana Club at their tennis courts from November 10-November 15.

The championships will offer total prize money of $ 25,000(Rs.12, 50,000) which will be sponsored by National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) with the event being organized under the auspices of the ITF, AITA and MSLTA.

Speaking to reporters Mr. Anand Tulpule, the tournament director of the event and Mr. Vishwas Lokare General Secretary of Deccan Gymkhana told reporters that 123rd ranked British player Melanie South fresh from a victory at Port Pirie in Australia last week , Australian 179th ranked Monique Adamczak , 187th ranked Korean Ye-Ra Lee , 213 ranked Romanian Agnes Szatmari and 221st ranked Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan who won two events on the ITF circuit and reached the last 16 at Tashkent WTA Open this year will be some of the top players in the event.

Mr. Tulpule added the Indian players have tough task at hand as only one Indian last year's runners-up of the event Isha Lakhani finds a place in the main draw.

Other Indian players will have to make it to the draw through the qualifying or as wild cards. "We have observed the past so many years that the standard of the event is going up substantially and the cut off for the main draw are getting higher every year" he added.

Veteran players Rushmi Chakravarthi, Bhambri sisters Sanaa and Ankita, and juniors Kyra Shroff, Shweta Kumari Solanki, Parul Goswami and Poojashree Venkatesha, Rashmi Teltumbde, Aishwarya Srivatsav will be some of the Indian challengers at the event.

The tournament will also witness top juniors like, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, Alexandra Kolesnichenko of Uzbekistan who have represented their countries at the Federation cup event this year.

Mr. Vishwas Lokare said that it was an event that had become a permanent fixture in the international calendar and many of the girls who have played here over the years including our own Sania Mirza, have gone high in their careers.

They further said that they were indeed thankful to Ms Anuradha Desai, the chairperson of the National Egg Coordination Committee for commitment and support in promoting women's tennis in India.

While the winner will receive 25 WTA points and prize money of $2940 , The runners up will receive 17 points and prize money of $1666 , the semifinalists 11.5 points and prize money of $1078, the quarterfinalists 7 points and prize money of $686 and the pre- quarterfinalist 7 points and prize money of $490 points.

The first round winner will receive 3.5 points and prize money of $490, while first round loser will get 1 point and $224. There will also be points and prize money for the qualifying rounds as well the Qualifiers will get 1.5points, the first round qualifying will get $68 and 0.25 points, the second round qualifier will get $133 and 0.50 points.

The doubles winner pair will get $1176, the runners up $686, the Semifinalists $392, Quarterfinalist $196 and the First round $98.

Asia's Top tennis Official and Pune's Silver Batch referee Sheetal Iyer has been appointed as the ITF referee of the event by the International tennis federation, along with Delhi's Lalit Mohan Singh who has been appointed the Bronze badge chair umpire. City's Leena Nageshkar and Hyderabad's Shiva Reddy have been appointed as the White badge officials for the event.

A special food court will also be put up by the sponsors of the event at the venue, while the entry to watch Matches will be free, Mr. Tulpule added

The main draw of the event will be played from Monday onwards, while the qualifying rounds of the event will begin on Saturday. The semifinals and finals will be shown live on Doordarshan.

Mr Tulpule also announced the wildcards for the main draw to Ankita Bhambri, junior players Kyra Shroff and Rashmi Teltumbde from Maharashtra and to Alexandra Kolesnichenko of Uzbekistan



Following is the players list recived from ITF for $25000 NECC-ITF Tennis championships at Deccan Gymkhana Pune.

Main Draw list
1 SOUTH, Melanie GBR 123
2 ADAMCZAK, Monique AUS 179
3 LEE, Ye-Ra KOR 187
4 SZATMARI, Agnes ROU 213
5 PALKINA, Ksenia KGZ 221
6 THYSSEN, Nicole NED 224
7 UNGUR, Liana-Gabriela ROU 225
8 LU, Jing-Jing CHN 241
9CHANG, Kai-Chen TPE 274
10 HARING, Florence FRA 275
11VIRATPRASERT, Suchanun THA 296
12 FERGUSON, Sophie AUS 306
13 HWANG, I-Hsuan TPE 307
14 SEGNINI, Vivian BRA 321
15 LAKHANI, Isha IND333
16TANGPHONG, Montinee THA 340
17 LUANGNAM, Nudnida THA 353
Qualifying
1GLUSHKO, Julia ISR 390
2 DABIJA, Elora ROU 406
3MEKEL, Leonie NED452
4PARASYUK, Julia RUS453
5WONGTEANCHAI, Varatchaya THA 468
6 PERKOVIC, Korina GER 471
7 LERTCHEEWAKARN, Noppawan THA 479
8 CURTIS, Jade GBR 489
9 BHAMBRI, Sanaa IND 505
10 BHAMBRI, Ankita IND 510
11CHAKRAVARTHI, Rushmi IND 530
12 MIRKOVIC, Marija AUS 540
13 WANNASUK, Nungnadda THA 551
14 WEBLEY-SMITH, Emily GBR 558
15 ASTROGO, Chen ISR 590
16 JOVANOVSKI, Bojana SRB 601
17SHLOMO, Keren ISR 609
18 DISDERI, Silvia ITA 622
19 MALOO, Parija IND 627
20 KHAN, Natasha GBR 641
21KOLESNICHENKO, Alexandra UZB 651
22 GOSWAMI, Parul IND 715
23 RAE, Jocelyn GBR 753
24 HE, Chun-Yan CHN 791
25 SANDUSKA, Patrycja POL 872