Jamshedpur, May 6: Eight qualifiers have been identified in the Men’s Singles category of the ongoing Tata Steel AITA Men’s National Ranking Tennis Tournament (1 Lac Prize Money) 2024, being held at the JRD TATA Sports Complex.Â
The qualifiers who have made it to the Main Draw of the Singles event are Ritabrata Sarkar (WB), Abhinansu Borthaur (WB), Vansh Bisht (DL), K Mandeep Reddy (KA), Emon Bhatt (CG), Rishi Raj Kesari (UP), Piyush Priyadarshi and Soham Sachin Kamble (MH). Out of the eight qualifiers and as per current national rankings, Ritabrata and Abhinansu will secure the 2nd and the 3rd seed in the Main Draw, after the top seeded V M Ranjeet.Â
In the opening rounds of the Men’s Singles Main Draw played till now, Top seeded V M Ranjeet of Tamil Nadu refused to sweat a bit as he whitewashed qualifier and 16 year old Soham Sachin Kamble by a humiliating 6-0,6-0. On an almost similar note, 3rd seeded Abhinansu Borthakur of Bengal, the winner of the Beldih Club AITA Men’s 1 lac held in November 2023, gifted only 3 games to Telengana’s Devarapalli AKhil Kumar Reddy before closing the match as the former won by 6-1,6-2.
 As a notable upset of the day, Vilasier Khate of Nagaland, seeded 6 in the draw made an early exit as he lost to unseeded Sajal Kesarwani by an easy 1-6, 3-6.
 The tournament was formally inaugurated by Ritu Raj Sinha, Managing Director of Tata Steel UISL today morning.
 Schedule of matches will start from 07:30 am tomorrow.