Berhampur: The prestigious All India Tennis Association (AITA) Super Series tournament for under-16 boys and girls got underway at the Union Club and District Police Office (DPO) tennis courts simultaneously.
IG of Police Southern Range Dr Sarthak Sarangi, SP Berhampur Dr Saravana Vivek M and SP Ganjam Subhendu Kumar Patra declared the tournament open amidst loud applause.
The top cops, who attended the inaugural function as guests of honour, appealed to the young players to play the game in good sportsman spirit and thanked their parents who have come from different states for their positive attitude in enriching the professional aspirations of their young children.
A total of 33 players, including 17 girls and 16 boys, have registered for this tournament, which will continue till February 6.
Odisha will be represented by 10 boys and 6 girls.
The spotlight will be on two very talented Odisha players who share the same name and are aged 14. Bhubaneswar boy Aahaan Mishra from Bhubaneswar is currently ranked 15th in India among under-16 boys and No. 3 among under-14 boys.
The class IX student of SAI International School is trained by Santosh Kumar Mallick and Chinmayee Pradhan of Gurukul Tennis Academy.
Aahaan, the top seed here, is optimistic of improving his all-India ranking. “I am top seed and have a good chance… looking forward to coming out on top,” he said. Aahaan considers Tamil Nadu’s Alimeer Fazal, his doubles partner, as his main rival.
Aahan, on the other hand, is also from Bhubaneswar ranked India No. 1 among under-14 girls and No. 7 among under-16 girls.
She is Studying in standard VIII in ODM Global School Bhubaneswar, Aahan represented India in Grand Slam Development tour in Europe last year and also in Malaysia.
Aahan is confident of doing justice to her ranking.
A total of 32 single and 30 doubles matches will be conducted at the Union Club and DPO tennis courts.
A one-minute silence was observed before the tournament kicked off in memory of Ganjam District Tennis Association (GDTA) officials J J Rao and Batla Krishna Rao who passed away recently.
