Pic Caption: Kunal Thakur (co-founder TPL), Radhika Tulpuule (mentor Pune Jaguars), Karim Khan men's winner, Puni Balan (owner Pune Jaguars), Shyam Pattel (owner Mumbai Leon Army), Nitin Kirrtane (men's No. 2), Mrunal Jain (co-founder TPL) 

Karim Khan, Aakansha triumph in TPL’s Mumbai talent day

Mumbai, Nov 7:

Karim Khan and Aakansha Nitture emerged champions among the men and women respectively in the Tennis Premier League’s Mumbai Talent Day selection trials, played at the MSLTA over the weekend. While Khan opted to join Pune Jaguars, Aakansha chose Mumbai Leon Army and the two will join the professional players in the League, to be played from December 14 to 18, 2021.

Also making the grade as the second best were Nittin Kirtane and Laalitya Reddy. Kirtane will join Mumbai Leon Army while Laalitya will turn out for Pune Jaguars. All the four also won a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each.

While Kirtane will join Ramkumar Ramanathan and Niki Poonacha in the Mumbai Leon Army Team, Kari Khan will get an opportunity to play alongside Saketh Myneni. While women’s winner Aakansha will join hands with Georgia’s Sofia Shapatava in the Mumbai team, Laalitya will partner with Pune Jaguars Rutuja Bhosle.

 

The U-18 contest for girls was won by Ruma Gaikwari, with Bhumika Tripathi finishing No. 2, while Gajanan Mangela triumphed in the 35 plus age group, followed by Ramzan Shaikh.

 

This was announced by the Co-Founders of TPL, Kunal Thakkur, ex-National Player and Mrunal Jain at a Press Conference, held at the MSLTA here, on Saturday.

Also present on the occasion were Radhika Tulpule, mentor of the Pune Team, besides team owners Shyam Patel of Mumbai Leon Army and Punit Balan of Pune Jaguars.

Founders Kunal Thakkur and Mrunal Jain promise an enthralling championship this year and aim to create an environment which is the perfect amalgamation of sports and entertainment.

Kunal Thakkur said, “We are excited that this year we will also be having international players playing in the League. We are so happy that the entire tennis fraternity comes forward every year to make this league a success. The intention is to make tennis win and we are extremely grateful to AITA and MSLTA for their unconditional support.”

“We are thankful to all our owners and sponsors who have shown such faith in our league. All I can say is that this is just the beginning. We intend to make the league one of its kind in India. The live telecast of all matches will be something very exciting for Indian tennis players and their fans,” said Mrunal Jain

A total of 400 players registered for the Mumbai Talent day in various categories, who will be vying for the different age group slots on the Mumbai team.

The teams:

Mumbai Leon Army: Ramkumar Ramanathan, Nikki Poonacha, Sofia Shapatava (Gerogia)

Delhi Binny’s Brigade: Yuki Bhambri, Manish Sureshkumar, Peangtarn Plipuech (Thailand)

Chennai Stallions: Purav Raja, Sidharth Rawat, Samantha Murray Sharan (Great Britain)

Bengaluru Spartans: Jeevan N, N Srirama Balaji, Sabina Sharipova (Uzbekistan)

Hyderabad Strikers: Arjun Kadhe, Vishnu Vardhan, Ankita Raina

Rajasthan Tigers: Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Aryan Goveas, Diana Marcinkevica (Latvia)

Gujarat Panthers: Divij Sharan, Vijay Sundar Prashant, Valeryla Strakhova (Ukraine)

Pune Jaguars: Saketh Myneni, Ishaque Iqbal, Rutuja Bhosle.