Mr. P. R, Ramaswamy, joint secretary of the KSLTA added "Sri R,T,Narayan made an immense contribution to the cause of tennis in Karnataka and was instrumental in the KSLTA hosting top notch international events. He played a major role in our infrastructural development as well, such as the renovation of the Stadium to international standards and establishing the Club House here. We, at KSLTA, consider it our duty and privilege to conduct this tournament in his memory."
The National Series is the second highest-level tournament for junior players after the National championship. The winners collect 75 points and runner-up earns 50 points while semi-finalists and quarter-finalists receive 40 and 30 points respectively. The preliminary rounds carry points from 5 to 20. The tournament trophies have been designed by Michael Foley, designer of the Indian Grand Prix Trophy, The Commonwealth Baton for 2010, amongst his many other design accomplishments. The players will also be paid Rs.800 per day as TA & DA.
The boy's main draw has a field of 64 with 48 direct entries, 8 qualifiers and 8 wild cards. The girl's main draw consists of 48 players, which include 34 direct entries, 8 qualifiers and 6 wild cards.
The qualifying round for boys will be a draw of 64 with 56 direct entries and eight wild cards while for Girls qualifying will be of 32 with 26 direct entries and six wild cards.
The tournament has received a huge response, with 128 entries in the boys' section and 70 in the girls category. National under-16 champion B.R.Nikshep, who is also ranked No.1 in his category, will lead Karnataka's challenge in the boy's singles. Besides Nikshep, the other key Karnataka players in the main draw include C Vasisht (AITA ranking: 8), Vignesh Subramanyan (43) and Siddharth N.Gowda (128). The top challengers from other States are Sanil Jagitani of West Bengal, Parikshit Somani of Assam and Gokul Suresh of Tamil Nadu.
In the girl's singles, Soha.S. (34) ,Rashmika Rajan (45),Muskan Rajan(62),Nisha Shenoy (67) Nikiha Pinto (71),Shivani Manjanna (103) form the Karnataka challenge. R.Abbinnika who is ranked No.11 in the country, heads the girl's singles list followed by her team-mate Sai Avanthika,, Sama Sathvika of Andhra Pradesh and Priyanka Kalita of Assam.
The matches will be played at the KSLTA Stadium and at the Mahila Seva Samaja, the latter being used for the girls preliminary round ties.
Mr. P.R.Ramaswamy and Niranjan Ramesh are the tournament directors while Mr. Sagar Kashyap is the AITA Referee for the tournament.
