'Champions Tennis League to bring tier-II cities on world map'

Six teams will participate in Champions Tennis League this time around.

Nagpur: One of the primary aims of the Champions Tennis League is to bring the second-tier cities on world map, former tennis ace Vijay Amritraj said here on Tuesday.

"Apart from making lawn tennis more popular and hunting talent from smaller areas, the aim of conducting the League is to bring second tier cities on world map," Amritraj told reporters.

"There are many second-tier cities like Nagpur which are growing at a spectacular rate and have some or the other significant characteristics to show to the world. I have heard about the rich wildlife nearby Nagpur.

"As the event will be telecast live in over 100 countries including the US, the host cities are bound to get a boost. There's a big potential for tourism as the city gets a chance to show its hospitality to the world," he said.

The teams in the League are: Nagpur Orangers, Punjab Marshalls Chandigarh, Hyderabad Aces, Mumbai Masters, Raipur Rangers and Team Chennai.

Explaining the objective behind starting the League, Amritraj said, "the league is not just for the sake of staging an event. We have given a lot of thoughts and the team composition says a lot about it. We have a 'legend in each team--an international player having excelled in a Grand Slam--who adds quality value.

"Then we have an international woman player so that the girls would be attracted to the sports. We have upcoming Indian players and more importantly two junior players who would learn a lot watching and playing along side these top players".