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Vishnu Vardhan became the most expensive male player at the auction of the Premier Tennis League held in Pune on Sunday. Sowjanya Bavisetti became the most expensive female player.
Vishnu’s stock has risen, ever since he was chosen to partner Leander Paes at last year’s Olympics.
He was bought by the Sharp Smashers for 1.45 lakhs while Sowjanya was bought by Accurate Aces for 1.05 lakh. The Premier Tennis League is an IPL-style league for tennis and its second season is scheduled to be held between January 18 – 25 in Pune at the Deccan Gymkhana.
There were five teams in the league last year in its inaugural edition and each of those five teams will be taking part again, along with a sixth team in Vibrant Volleyers, owned by Navjeevan Constructions.
The Volleyers have bought R Ramkumar and N Jeevan of Tamil Nadu along with Prerna Bhambri of Delhi.
The Accurate Aces are the defending champions and they have retained three players. So have the Dazzling Deuces, Mumbai Blasters and Sharp Smashers. The Baseline Bombers however have retained only two players.
Teams, with their owners and most valuable players are as follows:
Accurate Aces (RBX SportsEthix): Sriram Balaji (Rs 1,20,000), Baseline Bombers (Icon Group, Cummins Group) Saketh Myneni Rs 1,81,500 (retained player), Dazzling Deuces (Goyal Properties and Mittal Brothers) Mohit Mayur and Vijay Sunder Prashant (1,10,000, retained players), Mumbai Blasters (Sportiff India PVT LTD) Sanam Singh (1,81,500, retained player), Sharp Smashers (Pradeep Chordia) Vishnu Vardhan (1,45,000) Vibrant Volleyers (Navjeevan Constructions): R Ramkumar and N Jeevan (1,10,000 each).
