Berhampur, Feb. 29: Players from 14 states are taking part at the national-level Men's Ranking Tennis Tournament 2016 in both singles and doubles categories.
Conducted by the All India Tennis Association and the Odisha Tennis Association, the tournament that kicked off today has players from Kerala, Delhi, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Eight players from Odisha, including four all-India seeds Ansu Bhuyan (45), Avilash Mishra (245), Ashutosh Das (295) and Avilash Chandra Sahoo (371), were seen in action on the opening day.
Ansu Bhuyan, who hails from Maitri Vihar in Bhubaneswar, is the third seed in the tournament. The 22-year-old had been improvising on his skills to improve his ranking, after an injury on his right shoulder in 2012.
Ansu is pursuing his graduation in bachelor of business administration at Utkal University. He is trained by Farhan Ali, a Bhubaneswar-based coach. Ansu lifted the Under-12 Tennis Championships in 2006, which was his very first tournament.
Suraj R. Prabodh, 21, from Mysore is the No. 1 seed in the ongoing tournament and he hopes to further improve his ranking at the national level. "Every tournament is a stepping stone for me," said Suraj, who had taken part in various tournaments in India and abroad. The tennis ace from the south had taken part in various tournaments in Australia, Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, and many other countries. He also suffered an injury on his right ankle on a grass court tournament held at Calcutta last month.
"I am lucky to have got a sponsor. The Cycle Agarbatti sponsors all my tours and I get training at camps organised by the Karnataka state government," Suraj said.
The tournament will conclude on March 4.
This is the first time that a national tennis event is being organised in Berhampur, and many budding tennis players in the city are elated. "It is amazing to see players from the national level taking part in a tournament here. We can learn a lot from these seeded players," said Mona Tripathy, a Berhampur youngster, who is passionate about tennis.
