Bangalore: Nike, the world's leading sporting brand, has included India this year in the Nike Junior Tour (NJT) that's taking place in more than 25 countries for boys & girls in the under-12 and under-14 category.

India and Japan are the only two countries in Asia to take part in NJT, and four winners from India would be flown to Sun City, South Africa, to compete at the NJT International Masters 2002 starting November 6.

NJT in India would be conducted with support and assistance from the All India Tennis Association, said country manager, Nike-South Asia, Hemchandra Javeri and AITA secretary general Anil Khanna.

At a news conference at Nike-Bhupathi Tennis Village on the city outskirts, they said the tournament would commence in the week beginning September 23 simultaneously at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad, which are the venues for the zonal tournaments.

The winners and runners-up of each zonal tournament would then be flown to and hosted at Bangalore to participate in the NJT National Masters to be conducted in the week beginning October 21 at the Nike-Bhupathi Tennis Village.

The players would play a knock out format to decide the four winners of the NJT National Masters 2002 and then a team-format to practice for NJT International Masters. Khanna said director of Nike-Bhupathi Tennis Village, Krishna Bhupathi, would coach the players.

"This year, the number of countries participating is over 25, with over 60,000 players worldwide," Javeri said.

PTI