Indian Tennis League Launched

AITA to revolutionize and develop game with attractive format; International champions to participate

MUMBAI: It‘s Advantage India! The growth of tennis in the country received a tremendous boost today with the launch of the Indian Tennis League (ITL).
ITL is an exciting initiative from the All India Tennis Association (AITA) with an aim to take the game to the next level and develop tennis in India through this project.
Mr Anil Khanna, Hon. Executive Vice-President & Secretary General, AITA said: “We see a great opportunity in the new-found love for sports and entertainment and would like to capitalize on this trend to further the development of tennis in India. Tennis is arguably the fastest growing sport in India with tremendous global reach. Tennis is the only sport with a dual advantage of being seen as up-market by the urban Indian youth and is a ´young‘ sport reaching out to smaller Indian towns and cities.”
Thousands of children across India are enrolling into tennis academies with dreams of becoming the next Indian tennis icon. The ITL will provide the impetus to enhance the development of tennis in India by giving an opportunity to young budding players to be part of the franchise teams.
ITL will be the first of its kind tennis initiative in India and will base itself on the now globally successful franchise model. Franchise model helps develop an overall infrastructure, a sports culture and a fan base while simultaneously benefiting the franchise city economy.
Leading sports marketing company, Golazo, will be working closely with AITA in marketing and implementing ITL. Mr. Ivan Brixi, President, Golazo Asia,commented: “Top foreign players have shown strong interest to compete in India. Each team will feature male and female international stars, Indian star tennis players and top junior players in India. ITL is an exciting competition format which will generate a lot of interest both at home and abroad.”
ITL will be a hearty cocktail featuring leading international and domestic players, competitive tennis and entertainment which will warm the hearts of Indian fans. ITL will also provide an opportunity for fans to support their cities thereby creating a base for tennis amongst the citizens.
Mr Khanna sums it up: “ITL will revolutionize tennis by making it more attractive and accessible. We strongly believe ITL will help bring new fans to tennis and provide a new platform for the overall development of sports in India.”