Tennis program aims to foster stars of future

The Chinese Tennis Association will kick off the Beijing leg of its 2014 "Swing for the Future and Tour 2020" tennis training program next week, involving 50 junior players from the Chinese capital in intensive training and competition.

Held from June 23 to 27, the Beijing training camp will provide top-level coaching especially in footwork and shot consistency for the juniors aged 7 to 12 in the first three days, before a two-day tournament to examine the training effect and decide the winners of the Beijing stop.

Winners from Beijing will join other elite juniors selected from the program's previous seven stops across the country at the national final held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in October to compete for spots in an international training camp held in Australia in December.

Operated and promoted by Beijing International Group, the "Swing for the Future" program has benefited 25,900 junior talents with advanced training methods and overseas trips since it was launched in 2008 in a bid to create China's tennis stars of the future.

The Beijing stop will also feature foreign language study and cultural exchange activities for young players, and organize mass tennis promotion events at Beijing's Shoushuihe Primary School and Huguosi Primary School from June 24 to 27.

The program has been sponsored by Mercedes-Benz China since 2008.