Jamshedpur, May 20: Sixteen players today qualified for the main round of the inaugural Tata Steel Open (Super Series) Tennis Championship, which is being held here.

While D. Vishwakarma, B. Deb, V. Bharani, S. Reddy, Dody Bis, Mitanshu Wadhwa, Ranjan Prasad and Dhruv Gurvara made it to the main round of the under-14 category, Ayan Saikia, Kaushal Mahale, N Mohinta, Abhinav Kumar Sharma, Mahinder Rathod, Ajesh Anthati, Dhruv Gurvara and Arpit Sharma qualified for the under-18 category.

The championship was inaugurated this evening by superintendent of police Arun Oraon. Tata Steel vice-president A.D. Baijal, who is also the chairman of the organising committee, and sports department chief Satish Pillai were present. An exhibition match was played after the opening ceremony

More than 150 boys and girls from different states will participate in the championship, being organised by Tata Steel under the aegis of Bihar Lawn Tennis Association and Jharkhand Tennis Association.