Having just completed the Lotto Junior Tournament, Tennis Club Kordin (TCK) are now preparing for the International Junior Tennis Tournament, scheduled for the last week of this month.

Among the local entries for the competition (August 23-28) are Malta's most promising juniors Matthew Asciak and Elaine Genovese who have been selected for intensive training camps abroad by the ITF/Tennis Europe through the Grand Slam Development Fund initiative.

Asciak will be the top seed in the Boys Singles and Genovese second seed in the girls competition.

Already a record number of enquiries have been received by the Tournament Director Benny Vidal, who had to go through each and every request to ensure that participants conform with the European Tour regulations. Each application has to be sanctioned by the national federation of the country concerned.

At the time of the closing date, TCK reported a most encouraging number of requests for information. Eventually, 50 foreign players registered for the tournament, sponsored by San Michel. They hail from Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Due to the large number of participants, the neighbouring Vittoriosa Lawn Tennis Club will be assisting the TCK by offering their facilities to the visiting players for training purposes during the course of the tournament.

For the first time since this European Tour junior tournament was entrusted to the Malta Tennis Federation, some participants in the Boys' Singles will have to earn their place in the main draw of 32 by taking part in a qualifying stage.

Direct entry in the main draw will depend on current ITF or European ranking.

TCK, meanwhile, is urging officials with chair umpiring and line judging experience to assist in the tournament. One may obtain more details by phoning tournament Chief of Umpires Mary Muscat (2169 0874, 2166 2085) or Tournament Referee Oswald Tanti (2157 0077 and 9989 1733).