Bhubaneswar: In a bid to popularise tennis in Orissa and bring the players in limelight, the Nilachal Tennis Academy (NTA) will be organising the Orissa Tennis Premier League (OTPL) at the Kalinga Stadium tennis courts here November 19-23.
“OTPL will be a new model and it’s going to be the biggest tennis tournament in Orissa. Top players of the state will participate in the league. The competition level will be pretty tough and it will definitely help all the talented players of the state to improve further,” stated tournament director and former tennis player Dilip Mohanty while addressing a press conference here Monday.
The tournament comprises eight teams and 32 players in all. The sides participating are Angul Acers, Bhadrak Victors, Cuttack Conquerors, Khurda Warriors, Kendrapara Contenders, Puri Wavers, Sambalpur Shooters and Sundargarh Veerans.
Tennis coach Santosh Kumar Mallick informed that four international players from the state are taking part in the league. “They are Chinmaya Pradhan, Adarsha Sahoo, Rutuparna Choudhury and Aditya Satpathy. All of them have played ITF junior level tournaments, while Chinmaya has also played in the ITF men’s tournament,” Santosh informed.
All the players have been divided into four grades-A, B, C, D on the basis of their current performances and rankings. Women players have been placed in group C. Every team will have a player from each group.
Each tie will comprise of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles matches. Best two teams from each group will go to the semifinals. The final will be best of three rounds.
“The players will get a fixed amount of price as per their category. Grade A player will get Rs 50,000, while a grade B player will get Rs 40,000. Similarly grade C and grade D players will get Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively,” Dilip informed.
“It’s a great opportunity for youngsters like me to hone our skills further. We don’t get much exposure in Orissa. But thanks to OTPL that tennis and tennis players will get the much needed impetus,” youngster Kabir Hans stated.
post news network
