Sports India

The Nasdaq-100 Open, which begins its annual 12-day run March 23, announced its 13 main-draw wild cards Friday, and there was a heavy emphasis on teenagers, including 14-year-old junior sensation Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, who is being trained by Chris Evert at her academy in Boca Raton.

Tatishvili already is No. 26 in the ITF junior rankings after winning three tournaments in South America during February. She has been at the Evert academy for more than two years.

Other wild cards in the women’s tournament go to Orange Bowl winner Jessica Kirkland, 18, (currently ranked 196 by the WTA) of Dayton, Ohio; Neha Uberoi, 19 (No. 299) of Boca Raton; Sesil Karatancheva, 15 (No. 89), of Bradenton; Sania Mirza, 18 (No. 77), of India; Jamea Jackson, 18 (No. 125) of Sarasota; Angela Haynes, 20 (No. 105), of Bellflower, Calif., and Viktoriya Kutuzova, 16 (No. 473), of Ukraine.

On the men’s side, wild cards were awarded to Donald Young, 15 (No. 820 by the ATP), of Atlanta; Gael Monfils, 18 (No. 140), of France; James Blake, 25 (No. 151), of Tampa; Brendan Evans, 18 (No. 569), of Key Biscayne; and Mark Philippoussis, 28 (No. 191), of Delray Beach.

Blake, who missed half of the 2004 season with leg and eye injuries, is slowly working his way back to form. He lost first round to Vince Spadea at Key Biscayne last year. Philippoussis, an Australian who was the 2003 Wimbledon runner-up to Roger Federer, is once again trying to rebound from injury. He’s at Indian Wells this week, playing only his second tournament of the season following a hamstring injury.

If tennis followers will be watching Blake and Philippoussis closely, they’ll also be keeping an eye on the wealth of teenage talent – two of them in the men’s tournament.

Monfils won three Grand Slam junior titles in 2004, then injured his knee following Wimbledon and went out in the third round at the U.S. Open juniors. He is a potential top 20 player. Young has become the poster player for the USTA and was runner-up at the Orange Bowl in December.

Indian tennis sensation icon Sania Mirza has been roped in by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) for endorsement of its retail brands.

‘HPCL is working out a synergy with Mirza who is currently ranked 77 in the world as per the latest WTA rankings. It revolves around her youthful personality and vibrancy of our brands,’ HPCL executive director - retail S P Choudhary said at a function to introduce Sania as their brand ambassador.

Mirza would promote HPCL’s brands for the next two years.

‘We are confident that this blend will go a long way in making our brands more popular in consumers’ mind,’ he said.

HPCL has mega brands including Club HP, Power, Turbojet, HP Milcy, HP Racer, HP Champion and HP Gas in its portfolio.

A tripartite agreement was signed yesterday between HPCL, Sania and Globosport, a Bangalore-based celebrity management company.