Hyderabad: Players from 16 countries would vie for the total prize money of $ 10,000 at the GVK ITF Women's tournament, which would be held from September 16.

The tournament would take place in the new-look Lal Bahadur Stadium with Flexi Cushion courts to be inaugurated on the same day, Andhra Pradesh Tennis Association president GVK Reddy told reporters on Thursday.

“This is the first time that the city is hosting an international tennis event and in the coming two years we can expect more world class tennis tournaments,” Reddy said.

In all, 32 players would be selected after the qualifying rounds and the winner would take $ 1600 while other finalist would get $ 1000 and all first round participants who do not qualify further will get $ 100 each, Reddy said.

Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Netherlands, Korea, Russia, Indonesia besides hosts India are some of the nations taking part in the qualifying rounds while the final draws would be released after the international referee arrives on Friday.

The event is a run-up to the ensuing 32nd National Games scheduled to be held from December 13.

PTI