Star Attractions: Davis Cuppers Somdev DevVarman, Saket Myneni, Sanam Singh, Divij Sharan and upcoming star Ramkumar Ramanathan
Players from 15 countries to participate in the Air Asia Open will descend in Bengaluru
Karnataka’s top player Suraj Prabodh awarded a Main Draw Wild Card
ATP Challenger returns to the Garden City Bengaluru after twelve (12) years with the Air Asia Open. India’s Yuki Bhambri with an ATP ranking of 104 will spearhead the challenge in this ATP $50,000 Challenger, organized by Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA).
The draw also has five other Indians in the main draw and Somdev DevVarman is expected to be one of the strong contender apart from other Davis Cuppers Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Vijay Sunder Prashant would be vying for honors.
The Air Asia Open starts on Monday, 19 October and the final is slated for Sunday, 25 October 2015. The qualifiers on October 17 and 18 will precede the main draw.
Spain’s Adrian Menendez-Maceiras will be the No.2 with a 132 ATP ranking amongst players from 15 countries. Adrian Menendez-Maceiras and James Ward, the second and third seeds at Bengaluru are part of their respective country’s Davis Cup squad for 2015.
A few players who from have entered in the Air Asia Open are currently engaged in a $125,000 event in Uzbekistan and also a $50,000 event in Vietnam.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr BNS Reddy, Asst. Commissioner of Polica dn Treasurer, KSLTA said, “The Air Asia Open offers the Indian players a platform to clim up the International ladder. It will be a well contested tournament with six Indians in the main draw and we hope and wish all the players the very bestâ€.
Mr Ramaswamy, Hon. Jt Secy, KSLTA said, “We are happy be hosting this $50,000 event and hope the players enjoy the competition, tournament and weather. We are grateful to the media for their support and seek their continued support in enabling us promote this event.â€
“I take pleasure in announcing a Wild Card for Karnataka’s top player Suraj Prabodh from Mysore.â€
In a message Mr. M. Laxminarayan IAS, Principal Secretary, GOK & Chairman, Organising Committee said, “Karnataka has a cultural history that has supported sports. Events like the Air Asia Open go a long way in encouraging our own backyard talent and helps build Bengaluru and Karnataka as a top International sporting destination thus promoting sports tourism. We at KSLTA are proud to host this ATP Challenger event. We hope our boys grab the opportunity to showcase their talent and perform to potential to better their own ATP rankings. We expect this event to be a treat to Bengalureans as we would witness the top Indian players and tomorrow’s champions in action. We welcome Air Asia as the title sponsor of this event and thank them profusely for their support and all the other sponsors.â€
The Air Asia Open offers $7,200 (Rs.4,71,00) and 80 ATP points to the winner while the runners up gets $4,053 ( Rs. 2,65,000) and 55 ATP points. The Semifinalist will get $2,216 (Rs 145,000 each) and 33 points, while the Quarter Finalists stand to earn $1,267 (Rs. 83,000 each) and 17 points. The First round winner gets $ 760 (Rs. 50,000 each) and 8 ATP points while the Main Draw player gets $444 (Rs 29000 each) and 0 points. However the qualifier for the Main draw gets 5 ATP points.
While expressing excitement about Air Asia’s association with this event, the Commercial Director of Air Asia India, Mr. Gaurav Rathore said “Sports is a constant vertical that AirAsia has been supporting and is passionate about for a very long time with a single-minded objective of being out there where the action is. Tennis is something that is hugely followed in our country and coming on board as the Title Sponsor for ATP gives the entire team at AirAsia India immense pride. Being an airline based in Bangalore, we felt that it was important for us to support a sport like Tennis that is extremely popular in the city.”
The return of an ATP Challenger to the IT capital of India after a gap of 12 years re-asserts Bengaluru’s position as an international tennis destination in the world. Bengaluru has been in the forefront of hosting Tennis of international stature for a long time having conducted a plethora of events like the Davis Cup, WTA Tier-II, Tier-III and ITF professional circuit tennis tournaments.
The tournament Director would be Former National Coach, Mr. Sunil Yajaman and ATP Supervisor will be Mr. Roberto Raniera from Italy.
Mr. Sunder Raju, Hon. Jt. Secretary, AITA, Hon. Secretary, KSLTA and Chairman, International Tournaments Committee of All India Tennis Association (AITA) in a message said, ““We are very excited to bring back the ATP Challenger to Bengaluru after a gap of 12 years. With three players in the top 200, five in top 500 and thirty five others ranked on the ATP tour, All India Tennis Association feels this is the time to have more Challenger events which would help our players move higher in the world rankings with reduced expenses and advantage of home conditions. ATP Challenger takes our players one step closer to the ATP Tour and hopefully, we would see some top 50 players emerging out of our country soon. We whole heartedly thank Air Asia coming forward to support this event as the title sponsor. Being a Bangalore based airline, they embraced the event when requested. My special thanks to Mr. Mittu Chandilya, CEO & MD, Air Asia India for this gesture. I wish the Air Asia Open all success and hope the players have a great time in Bengaluru.â€
ATP Ranking Points for this event:
| W | F | SF | QF | R16 | R32 | Q |
| 80 | 55 | 33 | 17 | 8 | – | 5 |
