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Former Indian tennis player, Vijay Amritraj has announced the launch of Champions Tennis League (CTL) in a bid to promote the game in India. The format will have six city-based teams who will play 13 games between them from November 17 to November 26 later this year.
THE TEAMS
The six teams will be divided into two groups, wherein each team will take on other teams in their group on a home and away basis. The team with the most number of points from each group will face each other in a grand finale. The winner of the league will take home Rs. 1 crore and the runner up will receive Rs. 50 lakhs.
Each team will have both male and female players ranked between five to twenty five. Every team will also have an international player who will act as the playing captain along with a noted Indian male player, a top-ranked junior Indian boy and a junior Indian girl from that particular city.
Amritraj said that the tournament aims to make people more aware of the game while bringing in much needed excitement .
"I have been discussing an initiative like this with the All India Tennis Association(AITA) for many years now. Finally, we have decided that together, we can bring a level of tennis entertainment that has never been seen in India before," Amritraj, Chairman and Managing Director of Second Serve Pvt. Ltd., the company behind the CTL, said.
"We are in final negotiations with interested parties in Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi and Chandigarh and are working hard to take forward discussions in Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune for our remaining two franchises.We would be very happy to have six franchise owners who love the sport and are ready to maximise the opportunities that the franchise gives them within their home city to make this a win-win partnership for everyone concerned," said Amritraj when inquired about the team owners and the teams who would be participating in the mega event.
OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG TALENT
Amritraj further added that the names of the participants will be confirmed by the month of August. He believes that the interaction between Indian youngsters and International players will benefit Indian tennis in the long run.
"The AITA and I are also very pleased to include our top national junior talent. We are sure that the opportunity to interact and play with the international stars through the duration of the League will benefit them tremendously," he said.
