LAHORE, Dec 18: Ten synthetic tennis courts at a cost of Rs 10 million each will be laid down in three centres of Punjab from Jan 3. Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) president, Rao Iftikhar, told Dawn on Monday that four courts would be laid at the Bagh-i-Jinnah, three each at Lahore Gymkhana and at Islamabad Club.

He said the courts were imported from United States of America conforming to international standards.

"The courts are of same quality which are being used in the Australian Open or US Open," he said.

The president said synthetic courts was the need of time and it would help to improve the games of youngsters at grassroots level.

He said PLTA was also sending four upcoming players namely Tanvir Ashiq, Umar Babar, Khurram and Ahmed Aslam to Chandigarh, India next month to get training at academy for one month.

He said academies in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad were also functioning in which the PLTA had been providing free balls only.