Chennai, July 13, 2017: Chess legend Viswanathan Anand was the chief guest of the launch of the CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), the country’s newest franchise sports league, which kicked off later on Thursday with the first tie between RP-SG Mavericks and Falcons TTC at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
“This is the biggest league to happen in India for table tennis and I think it will be a great boost to the sport in the country,” Anand said at the sidelines of the inauguration event.
Also present at the inauguration was Vita Dani, chairperson of 11 Even Sports Pvt. Ltd. and League Owner, Niraj Bajaj, Promoter-Director, Bajaj Group of Companies and Co-Promoter of the CEAT UTT.
Twenty-four foreign players and an equal number of Indian players (both men and women) feature in the six franchises. Apart from RP-SG Mavericks and Falcons TTC, the other four franchises are Dabang Smashers TTC, DHFL Maharashtra United, Oilmax Stag Yoddas and Shazè Challengers.
CEAT UTT will be played in Chennai (July 13-20), Delhi (July 21-25) with the final leg including semifinals and finals played in Mumbai (July 26-30).
The matches will be shown live from 7:30 PM on Star Sports Select 2 HD, Star Sports Select 2 and will be live streamed on Hotstar and Jio TV.