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| Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
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Rs. 1.5 m on offer in Ghymkhana Club's ITF men's tourney by Ranjan Anandappa Tennis will receive a terrific boost in the Island when a ranking tournament of world repute will be conducted with a highly professional touch when Water Front Ascon Residencies, Apartment and Complex Developers will conduct the ITF Men's Futures 2005 Tennis tournament from November 28th to December 4th at the Queen's Gymkhana Club Courts, Buller's Road. A tennis championship of this nature is being held in Sri Lanka for the first time with prize money soaring up to Rs. 1.5 million. The tourney is sponsored and conducted by a private company with the consent of the International Tennis Federation and the Sri Lanka Tennis Association. It's a world ranking tournament and only players with current world ranking and qualifiers would be permitted to participate. The SLTA has been previously conducting world ranking tournaments for the local elite players at a lesser cost giving the public the opportunity to witness international tennis at the SLTA courts. It is for the first time that a private company has taken over the task of conducting an international tournament. "It was about one year ago that the SLTA felt that it should not hogg all the tennis tournaments that came their way. The SSC broke the ice by conducting a tournament and now a very efficient Queen's Gymkhana Club have taken the task of conducting this tournament." said Lionel Almeida, the Chief Executive Officer of the SLTA. "It's a unique feat for the Queen's Gymkhana Club as they have a Test venue for cricket and the Queens Tennis Centre where this tournament is played, will be recognised as a venue for world ranking", said Almeida. The tournament Director Saliya Jayasuriya said that the tournament is a stepping stone for Wimbledon, and he would like to emulate India in grooming players. India conducts over twenty ITF ranking tournaments for a year and this has been helpful to produce top quality players. The recent find is the Indian tennis sensation from Hyderabad Sania Mirza. "Tennis ranking tournaments give a lot of benefits for the players and the country. The game is one of the richest sports in the world. We have top class cricketers and we must also promote tennis to reach that level." Emphasised Saliya Jayasuriya. Shammi Silva, the President of the Gymkhana Club thanked the ITF for granting permission to host the tournament and said that no tournament could successfully be conducted without sponsors and was grateful for Ascons for sponsoring the event. He said that CCC is already a Test venue, and venue for international rugby and soon it will be a venue for world ranking tennis. The entries for the championship will be through the ITF office in London. There will be a men's singles draw of 32 and doubles draw of 16. The
qualifying rounds will be played prior to the main events. |
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