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| Sunday, 17 August 2003 |
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Big money on offer at Women's professional tennis in Colombo Twenty one players have been nominated by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), while three "wild card" entries have been set aside and eight top finishers from the qualifying round (August 17 and 18) will compete in the main draw of the singles at the Women's Professional Tennis Circuit, which is an ITF Grand Slam Development Fund event, when it is worked off in Colombo at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) from August 18 to 23. The President of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA), Suresh Subramanian, said that the prize money at stake is US dollars 10,000/- and thanked the sponsors Cahayadi Santose and Jembo Cables. Thirty-two players will comprise the main draw for the Singles and 16 pairs for the Doubles. This event is the latest of the women's ITF Asian Circuit and follows two similar tournaments in Bangkok held earlier this month. This is being held to help the young, fringe players to garner world ranking points and play in the big league. Thailand's Napaporn Tongsalee is expected to be the top seed as she is 309th in the world rankings - the highest to figure in Colombo, and has been given a "wild card" entry. The next highest ranked player is India's Rushmi Chakravarthi, who is ranked 429th, while the lowest ranked player is Rebecca Turner of Australia (1164th). India has 13 players and the others include players from Thailand, Germany, Chinese Taipei, United Kingdom (UK) and Czechoslovakia. Subramaniam further disclosed that five Sri Lankans have entered for the qualifying rounds and that the ITF has demonstrated its faith in the organisational skills of the SLTA as the SLTA have conducted six ITF events so far this year. (L.G.) |
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