CHANDIGARH, NOV 16 : Punjab Marshalls, skippered by Marcos Bhagdatis of Cyprus, are fully prepared to compete in the Champions Tennis League (CTL) to be organised from November 23 to December 6.
Punjab Marshalls will play their home matches at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) Stadium on November 27 (vs Raipur Rangers) and November 28 (vs Mumbai Tennis Masters).
The Marshalls team will consist of Greg Rusedski, Elina Svitolina, Marcos Baghdatis, Saket Myneni, Zeel Desai, Yugal Bansal. Zeel Desai and Yugal Bansal are the junior players who have been drafted for Punjab Marshal.
Tennis icon Vijay Amritraj who is Managing Director Second Serve Pvt. Ltd. and Chairman, Champions Tennis League said that this time the nember of matches have been increased to 13 from 10 and the final will be played in Hyderabad on December 6. All matches will start at 6 p.m.
Kudrat Tamber who owns Punjab Marshalls team and Amritraj told newsmen here that the CIL matches would be played in Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Chennia and Raipur.
Punjab Marshalls, Mumbai Tennis Masters and Raipur Rangers are in Group A while Nagpur Orangers, V Chennai Warriors and Hyderabad Aces have been clubbed in Group B. It will be a double league affairs and the group leaders will compete in the final.
CIL will provide a most suitable platform for the junuior players to learn from tennis stars namely Richard Krajicek, Martina Hingis, Marcos Baghdatis and Heather Watson and others.
Punjab Marshalls have decided to give free entry to watch the tennis stars in action at the Sector10 Tennis Stadium in Chandigarh for the home matches.
Schedule:
November 23: Punjab Marshalls vs Mumbai Tennis Masters at MSLTA Mumbai.
November 24: Mumbai Tennis Masters Vs Raipur Rangers at MSLTA Mumbai.
November 25: V Chennai Warriors vs Hyderabad Aces at SDAT Tennis Stadium, Chennai
November 26: V Chennai Warriors vs Nagpur Orangers at SDAT Tennis Stadium,. Chennai
November 27: Punjab Marshalls vs Raipur Rangers at Sector 10 Tennis Stadium, Chandigarh.
November 28: Punjab Marshalls vs Mumbai Tennis Masters at Sector 10 Tennis Stadium, Chandigarh.
November 29: Hyderabad Aces vs Nagpur Orangers at Lal Bahadur Stadium, Hyderabad.
November 30: Hyderabad Aces vs V Chennail Warriors at Lal Bahadur Stadium, Hyderabad.
December 1: Raipur Rangers vs Mumbai Tennis Masters at Balbir Juneja Stadium, Budha Talaq, Raipur.
December 2: Raipur Rangers vs Punjab Marshalls at Balbir Juneja Stadium, Budha Talaq, Raipur.
December 3: Nagpur Orangers vs V Chennai Warriors at Nagpur District Hard Court Tennis Association, Nagpur.
December 4: Nagpur Orangers vs Hyderabad Aces at Nagpur District Hard Court Tennis Association, Nagpur.
December 6: Final at Lal Bahadur Stadium, Hyderabad.
Team Line-up:
Mumbai Tennis Masters (Richard Krajicek, Fkavua Pannetta, Andreas Seppi, Sriram Balaji, Mikha Yadav, Dhruvsunish).
Punjab Marshalls (Greg Rusedski, Elina Svitolina, Marcos Baghdatis, Saket Myneni, Zeel Desai, Yugal Bansal).
Raipur Rangers (Thomas Muster, Alize Cornet, Roberto Bautista Agut, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Vaidehi Chaudhari, Parikshit Somani),
Hyderabad Aces (Thomas Johansson, Martina Hingis, Ivo Karlovic, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Sathwika Sama, Adit Kalyanpur).
Nagpur Orangers (Alex Corretja, Jelena Jankovic, Feliciano Lopez, Divij Sharan, Harshasai Challa, Nitin Kumar Sinha).
V Chennai Warriors ( Rainer Schuettler, Heather Watson, Fernando Verdasco, Vishnu Vardhan, Sabhyat Nihalini, Dhakshineswar Suresh).