PUNE: World No 61 junior Dostanbek Tashbulatov of Kazakhstan and World No 49 junior Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong have been given the top seedings in the main draw of the second edition of the HCL Asian B1 Junior Tennis Championship.
The top seed in the boys, Tashbulatov will take on wildcard Aryan Bhatia while Wong will clash with recently crowned Under-16 national champion and wildcard Gargi Pawar in the opening rounds.
Under-18 national champion and Pune lad Siddanth Banthia has been seeded fourth and will take on Malaysia’s Christian Didier in the opening match
Honorary secretary of MSLTA Sunder Iyer and Tournament Director Kaustubh Shah announced the wildcard for the boys main draw event to Aryaan Bhatia, Tejaswi Mehra, Arthav Neema and Prasanna Bagade.
Gargi Pawar, Kaavya Sawhney, Bhakti Parwani and Under-18 national champion on clay and local girl Sharanya Gaware were awarded the wildcard in the girls section.
The B1 category tournament is a closed event for the Asian continent and one of the most reputed tennis championships in the world after the junior grand slams for the Under-18 category.
Players from 11 countries which includes China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Hong-Kong, Malaysia, Iran, Kazakhstan,Uzbekistan, Indonesia and India are participating.
“With a view to furthering HCL’s core brand philosophy of touching people’s lives, HCL has created various programs in the field of sports and music. As a part of its sports initiatives, HCL has been supporting tennis for three years now and has created platforms that also attract international players to help the top Indian juniors test their mettle. The HCL Asian Junior Tennis Championship is the most prestigious tennis tournament and I hope the players are able to perform,” stated Sundar Mahalingam, Chief Strategy Officer, HCL Corporation.
SEEDING LIST:
Boys: 1. Tashbulatov Dostanbek(Kaz), 2. Fomin Sergey (Uzb), 3. Han Seon Yong (Kor), 4. Siddhant Bhatia (Ind), 5. Megh Bhargav Patel (Ind), 6. Sacchitt Sharma (Ind), 7. Mann Shah (Ind), 8. Suksumrarn T (Tha).
Girls: 1 Wong, Hong Yi Cody (Hkg), 2. Sato, Himari (Jpn), 3. Sawangkaew, Mananchaya (Tha), 4. Nugroho, Priska Madelyn (Ina), 5. Kawamura, Mana (Jpn), 6. Kozaki, Funa (Jpn), 7. Wang, Jiaqi (Chn), 8. Nirundorn, Mai Napatt (Tha).
