7th January:

Picture credits – IFS Raman Kalika

India’s Sidhharth Vishwakarma creates sensation by eliminating the fourth seed Florent Bax(FRA) The prestigious International event ITF dollar 30K organised at Arera club Bhopal, was declared open by Shri Vishwas Sarang, Honourable Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare, Madhya Pradesh Government by releasing balloons. In his inaugural address he appreciated the organisers for hosting sucha prestigious event in which players from sixteen nations are competing for-the coveted title and the very important ATP and ITF ranking points. Honourable minister urged media to give more coverage to such animportant sporting event in Bhopal so that more people and sports lovers of Bhopal can have the pleasure of watching tough competitive matches. He also took the opportunity to exhort the youth of Bhopal to take sports as a part of life because it makes the person mentally tough, makes him persevere in face of adversity and makes him view life with a positive perspective.

Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND) provided the first and probably the biggest upset of the tournament by defeating fourth seed Florent Bax of France (6-4, 4-3(retd)). Vishwakarma was in such a fierce attacking form that the Frenchman had to retire midway through the second set.

Vishnu Vardhan and Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta overcame Adil Kalyanpur and S D Prajwal Dev in a gruelling three set match 6-2,3-6,10-4.

On 8th January 12 single matches are scheduled to be played, which willfeature all the top seeds, including Mathys Erhard (FRA), Oliver Crawford and Bodgan Bobrov.