Neelachal Tennis Academy (NTA) today announced to organize the 1st Odisha Tennis Premier League (OTPL) at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from November 19 to 23, 2017. Addressing the press conference here, Tournament Director Dillip Mohanty said OTPL would change the scenario of tennis in the state.
According to Mohanty as many as 32 leading tennis players of Odisha, franchised by eight teams, would be participating in this tournament. Teams are: Angul Acers, Bhadrak Victors, Cuttack Conquerors, Khordha Warriors, Kendrapada Contenders, Puri Wavers, Sambalpur Shooters and Sundergarh Veerans.
Players have been divided into four groups _ A, B, C and D and teams have been divided into two groups. After group league, top two teams from each group would qualify for semifinals. Each match would consist of two men’s singles, one women’s singles, one men’s doubles and one mixed doubles.
Players would get fixed amount as per their category.
Category A would Rs 50,000, Category B Rs 40,000, Category C Rs 30,000 and Category D Rs 20,000.
A total amout of Rs 11,20,000 would be given to the 32 players. On this occasion, the trophy of the OTPL was also unveiled in the presence of players of different team, mentors and other dignitaries. The Logo and the T-Shirt of OTPL was earlier released by Odisha Chief Minister of Naveen Patnaik and Unior Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
CATEGORY OF PLAYERS:
Category-A: Adarsh Sahoo, Ajay Kumar Nishank, Asutosh Das, Chandra Sekhar Mohanty, Chinmay Pradhan, Kabir Hans, Santosh Kumar Mallik, Satirtha Patnaik.
Category-B: Aditya Satpathy, Kumar Anurag Saran, Lalatendu Barma, Lalit Das, Sangram Kumar Patra, Sudhanta Sekhar Mohanty, Sunil Palei, Swostik Satyakam Pradhan.
Category-C: Ameek Kiran Batth, Anaam Almas, Aneesha Mukherjee, Ankita Panda, Ayesha Swain, Henamika Karina Sahu, Rutuparna Choudhury, Shilpi Swarupa Das.
Category-D: Abhijeet Pradhan, Aditya Narayan Guru, Bibek Mahananda, Biswajit Das, Jayesh Mangela, Manoj Kumar Nayak, Rahul Kumar Mohanty, Suraj Sahu.
GROUPINGS:
Group-A: Bhadrak Victors, Kendrapara Contenders, Khordha Warriors, Puri Wavers.
Group-B: Angul Acers, Cuttack Conquerors, Sambalpur Shooters, Sundergarh Veerans.
TEAMS & PLAYERS:
Bhadrak Victors: Asutosh Das, Kumar Anurag Saran, Ayesha Swain, Manoj Kumar Nayak.
Kendrapara Contenders: Chandrasekhar Mohanty, Sudhanta Sekhar Mohanty, Rutuparna Choudhury, Rahul Kumar Mohanty.
Khordha Warriors: Chinmay Pradhan, Sangram Kumar Patra, Henamika Karina Sahu, Abhijeet Pradhan.
Puri Wavers: Santosh Kumar Mallik, Lalit Dash, Anaam Almas, Bibek Mahananda.
Angul Acers: Kabir Hans, Aditya Satpathy, Ankita Panda, Aditya Narayan Guru.
Cuttack Conquerors: Adarsh Sahoo, Sunil Palei, Aneesha Mukherjee, Jayesh Mangela.
Sundergarh Veerans: Ajay Kumar Nishank, Swostik Satyakam Pradhan, Shilpi Swarupa Das, Suraj Sahu.
Sambalpur Shooters: Satirtha Patnaik, Lalatendu Barma, Ameek Kiran Batth, Biswajit Das.
MATCH SCHEDULE:
Nov 19: Bhadrak Victors vs Kendrapara Contenders; Khordha Warriors vs Puri Wavers; Angul Acers vs Cuttack Conquerors; Sambalpur Shooters vs Sundergarh Veerans.
Nov 20: Angul Acers vs Sambalpur Shooters, Cuttack Conquerors vs Sundergarh Veerans; Bhadrak Victors vs Khordha Warriors; Kendrapara Contenders vs Puri Wavers.
Nov 21: Bhadrak Victors vs Puri Wavers; Khordha Warriors vs Kendrapara Contenders; Angul Acers vs Sundergarh Veerans; Cuttack Conquerors vs Sambalpur Shooters.
Nov 22: Semifinals
Nov 23: FINAL
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PHOTO: OTPL trophy was unveiled by (L to R) Ajay Nishank, Satirtha Patnaik, Chinmay Pradhan, Dillip Mohanty, Santosh Mallik and Lalit Dash in Bhubaneswar on Oct 30, 2017.