NEW DELHI: In a setback for Indian tennis, the country has lost its only ATP 250 tournament – an event that was first held way back in 1996 and till recently was organised as the Tata Open Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) had saved it from going out of the country in 2018 when the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) gave up on hosting the tournament after conducting it for many years. The tournament was arranged by the MSLTA, Maharashtra government, IMG and RISE Worldwide (an initiative of the Reliance Group), the owner of the event. “The contract with IMG and RISE stands successfully completed.

We still have a commitment from both the Government of Maharashtra and our sponsors TATA for promoting tennis in Maharashtra and India when we have the right opportunities to organise any other major event,” MSLTA secretary Sunder Iyer and tournament director Prashant Sutar said in a joint statement.