SEEDED players progressed without any difficulty in the District-Zonal Championship Tennis Tournament that got under way at MSLTA Tennis Academy, Ramnagar, on Saturday. The two-day event for Under-14 and Under-17 boys and girls, is being hosted by Nagpur District Hardcourt Tennis Association (NDHTA). Akshat Dakshindas and Heramba Pohane are top two seeds in boys groups. In girls categories, Mishka Tayade is top seed in both the events while Nayana Totre and Anushka Budhraja are the second seeds in U-17 and U-14 groups respectively. Among most competitive matches of the day, Abhimanyu Umre beat Dhruv Mor 6-4 (U-17); Shravari Shrirame beat Urvee Atre 6-5(3) (U-14); Dhruv Mor beat Kapil Chanchlani 6-5(1) (U-17); Pranav Gaikwad beat Abheer Warnekar 6-5(2) (U-17); Arjun Mansingka beat Vivaan Pondge 6-5(3) (U-17).

 

This is a selection tournament for picking players who will participate in the MSLTA State Championships. Top two players (winner and runner-up) in singles events from each district will be selected for the State Championships to be conducted by MSLTA later. There are six zones in the rest of Maharashtra — Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, Solapur, Nanded and Kolhapur. The winners will compete with Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune zones for the State Championship. On Sunday the quarter -finals will begin at 8.30 am to be followed by semi-finals and finals. The prize distribution function will be held at 3 pm. Certificates will be given to all the players in each category. Tournament supervisor Vishal Landge and his team are working very hard under the guidance of Tournament Director Dr Sudhir Bhiwapurkar and Tournament Secretary Vijay Naidu.