Karman Kaur Thandi, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sriram Balaji and Arjun Kadhe breached the Rs. 6 lakh mark among the Indians in the auction for the Tennis Premier League (TPL). The fourth edition of TPL will be staged at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune from December 7 to 11.
Wimbledon men’s doubles champion Matthew Ebden of Australia was picked for the best price of Rs. 8.45 lakh by Delhi Binny’s Brigade.
Karman was taken for Rs. 6.55 lakh by Bengaluru Spartans, Ramkumar for Rs. 6.7 lakh by Mumbai Leon Army, Balaji for Rs. 6.05 lakh by Finecab Hyderabad Strikers and Arjun Kadhe for Rs. 6.70 lakh by Pune Jaguars.
The Pune team will also have Rutuja Bhosale and Vijay Sundar Prashanth. “As the home team, I am looking forward to the stadium being full for Pune Jaguars’’, said team owner Sonali Bendre Behl.
Delhi will have Sowjanya Bavisetti and Siddanth Banthia apart from Ebden.
Mumbai Leon Army, co-owned by Leander Paes, also took Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine.
“It is going to be the most exhilarating TPL season yet. It is a testament to the efforts of Kunal Thakkur and Mrunal Jain to make the league grow in every edition’’, said Paes.
The brand ambassador for Bengaluru Spartans, former world No.1 double star, Sania Mirza also appreciated the growth of TPL.
“The talent is going to make the fourth edition most competitive yet. The innovative format helps the players test themselves in pressure situations and improve their game’’, said Sania.
The teams: Delhi Binny’s Brigade: Matthew Ebden (Aus), Sowjanya Bavisetti, Siddanth Banthia.
Finecab Hyderabad Strikers: Conny Perrin (Sui), Sriram Balaji, Niki Poonacha.
Mumbai Leon Army: Ramkumar Ramanathan, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Valeriya Strakhova (Ukr).
Chennai Stallions: Illya Marchenko (Ukr), Anastasia Gasanova (Rus), Anirudh Chandrasekar.
Bengaluru Spartans: Karman Kaur Thandi, Vishnu Vardhan, Sidharth Rawat.
Pune Jaguars: Arjun Kadhe, Vijay Sundar Prashanth, Rutuja Bhosale.
Gujarat Panthers: Ankita Raina, Divij Sharan, Manish Sureshkumar.
Punjab Tigers: Denis Istomin (Uzb), Malek Jaziri (Tun), Diana Marcinkevica (Lat).
