CHENNAI: This month, Chennai will be hosting the first edition of Table Tennis Super League-Tamilnadu, organised by Indusports, under the auspices of TN Table Tennis Association and 11Sports. The league will be held at the Express Avenue mall, from November 24-26. Tamil Nadu’s top table tennis players will get an opportunity to showcase their skills and talent, while representing their respective franchise-owned teams.
“We got this idea when I visited the table tennis league in Mumbai,” says Sameer, Indusports Leagues. The league constitutes of eight teams, and each will have six embers from different age groups — men, women, junior boys, junior girls, cadet boys and veterans.
“We are hoping variations in age groups will help them bond as each team will have someone from under 12 years to over 40,” says Kamalesh Metha, Arjuna awardee and table tennis player, addressing the meet. The team formation and selection of players was done by a ‘Players Auction’, where 60 players were bought by teams. The franchises ranged from institutions, like Jeppiar Institutions , Hindustan University, Billroth Hospitals, to name a few and also a few individual owners.
Kamalesh also added that this was the first state-wide league for table tennis. in TN. “It’s encouraging that Tamil Nadu came forward to do this league. We are planning to take this league to all states and then to interstate state-wise championships too,” he said.
The event was attended by prominent table-tennis national champions. “I’m looking forward to an interesting league which will boost healthy competition. The children are blessed to have this opportunity,” said Selvi, a Chennai-based international TT player and coach.
The Table Tennis Super League-Tamil Nadu has a total cash prize of `2 lakh and other awards for categories like best player male, female and others. There will also be sponsor-based prizes, Sameer added. “The objective of the league is to get more people to see TT. Once you see it, you will be hooked,” he smiles.