India to host The Road to Wimbledon junior tournament

The initiative was launched by the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The celebration of the agreement was held at South Club in Kolkata, in the presence of big names of the tennis world like Dan Bloxham, Paul Hutchins, Manpreet Khandari and Hironmoy Chatterjee  gracing the occasion.

The programme aims in identifying and highlighting young talents under age group 14 with proper exposure, through the opportunity of playing at Wimbledon.

Last year India hosted the first Wimbledon-branded tennis events staged outside the UK as the event arrived in Delhi and Mumbai, and that resulted into immediate dividends when 14 yr old Siddhant Banthia, from Pune, beat off competition from the UK and India to win the boys singles titles.

Former British tennis  player Paul Hutchins said, “We are here to help Kolkata juniors in all the way we can because we are eager to witness more player like Siddhant.”

He spoke on behalf of HSBC and also announced how well Kolkata club is taking initative and holding programmes to train the young tennis players of the city and elsewhere.

Dan Bloxham, coach of tennis club Wimbledon was seen to have been enjoying the atmosphere of the city as he talked about the grass court and the perfect atmosphere to play tennis.
Soon he also showed some quick warm ups which he said is’ must’ before playing tennis accompanied by a young little girl named “Pari Singh”.

He also said “it is extremely over whelming and enjoyable to see enthusiasm among juniors in India because energy is what tennis needs”.

(Reporting by Prashanti Banerjee, Image by Soumyadeep Pal)