The Victory Day Open tennis tournament, sponsored by Runner Group and organised by Bangladesh Tennis Federation (BTF), begins at the National Tennis Complex in Ramna today.
Some 224 players are to take part in eight different events — men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles, boys’ U-16, girls’ U-16, boys’ U-12 and the girls’ U-12. The preliminary round will be held here in Dhaka and after that the round of 16, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will take place in Naogaon.
“Naogaon has great heritage of tennis since the East Pakistan regime and produced a few good players, but in recent past we can’t see players coming from this northern district. So we decided to stage the second part of the event in Naogaon in a bid to give tennis a new birth in the district,” said BTF general secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Curren at a press conference at the federation office yesterday.
The second phase will start in Naogaon from December 24 after a two-day round in Dhaka.
“We believe this tournament will play a good role in reviving tennis in Naogaon,” said tournament committee director and BTF vice-president Mohammad Ali Deen, who is also a director of Runner Group.
Anwarul Azim, another director of the sponsors, said that it was the fourth time that they were sponsoring tennis and wished to be associated with the federation for longer. But he demanded a re-evaluation of BTF’s commitment in searching talent through tournaments like these.
