Bengaluru, Feb 14 (IANS): Star Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal was on Tuesday awarded a wild card entry into the singles main draw at the Bengaluru Open 2023, scheduled from February 20 to 26.

The 25-year-old former India No. 1 is the first wild card entrant at the fifth edition of the prestigious ATP Challenger event, which will be organised by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) at the KSLTA Stadium here.

"We are delighted to give Nagal the first wild card of the fifth DafaNews Bengaluru Open. He is an excellent player and has won his maiden ATP Challenger title here. We are committed to providing our Indian players a world-class platform to rub shoulders with the best names from the tennis world through this tournament. Nagal is one of those players who have performed well here and carried that momentum to do well in their careers. I'm confident that he will make the most of this opportunity and produce a good show," said Sunil Yajaman, Tournament Director of Bengaluru Open and Joint Secretary of KSLTA.

Nagal won his first ATP Challenger title at this tournament in 2017 and went on to put up some impressive performances thereafter in his career. He also had quarter-finals and pre-quarterfinals finishes during his other two outings at this tournament in 2018 and 2020 respectively.

"Playing at the DafaNews Bengaluru open has always been special for me as it's the place where I won my first Challenger. Good memories, good vibes and playing in front of an energetic audience is always fun, so I'm extremely grateful and excited for the opportunity to compete at the tournament again. I'm extremely thankful to KSLTA for awarding me a wild card for this prestigious event and I hope to make the best use of it," Nagal said.

Nagal will be part of the exciting singles field comprising the former World No. 10 Lucas Pouille and last year's champion Chun-hsin Tseng among others.

Bengaluru Open has also onboarded leading sports news and analysis portal DafaNews as its title sponsor for the next three years as this association will see DafaNews promote the progress of the sport in the city as well as across the country.

Qualifiers will be played from February 19 and 20 while the main draw begins on February 20.