‘Mysuru Open,’ a five-day top seed All India-level Tennis Championship, organised by Orange Sportz, Mysore Tennis Club (MTC), All India Tennis Association (AITA) and Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA), commenced yesterday at MTC premises in Chamarajapuram here.

The chief guest for the occasion was R. Nagaraj, a professional tennis player and coach.

In his inaugural address, Nagaraj encouraged the players to give their best and enjoy the game of tennis. He added that the players coming from across the country to also explore Mysuru’s prominent places and get a flavour of the                                        southern culture.

Algappan, President, Mysore Tennis Club opined that this tournament should be a battle not just for the points on the court, but should be a platform for playing good sportive and competitive tennis.

The Tournament has several players from the top seed 32 AITA rankings like Prajwal Dev from Karnataka, Jatin Dahiya from Delhi, Yash Yadav from Madhya Pradesh, Nikit Reddy from Karnataka, B.R. Nikshep from Karnataka, etc. Players will battle it out on the courts for the prestigious inaugural Mysuru Open title which has a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh associated with it.

Ravishankar, Founder of Orange Sportz, in his speech, said “This Tennis Tournament is a new venture in Mysuru. The motive of the Tournament is also to promote sports tourism in Mysuru. Through this Tournament, we can clearly make a statement that Mysuru also has top class sports infrastructure and ecosystem to host national tournaments. If tournaments like this happen in Mysuru, the sports tourism of Mysuru city will grow double-folds. Mysuru definitely has all the resources to host national level tournaments and the city can prove itself as a city that breathes sports in its ecosystem.”

The valedictory on Feb. 15 will have Yaduveer Wadiyar as the chief guest.