MUMBAI: Moving ahead with the philosophy of fostering a multi-sport culture in India Star Sports has acquired the rights to telecast the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL). Matches will be telecast live on Star Sports, Star Sports HD and starsports.com. Indiantelevision.com was the first to report the development earlier
Commenting on the acquisition, Star India president sports Nitin Kukreja said “The IPTL is an unprecedented opportunity for sports fans across India to experience the game played by its legends. This is the first time India will play host to some of the biggest names in tennis, and we at Star Sports are extremely proud to be associated with this league. We’re confident that the league will take the game of tennis to much greater heights and further accelerate its development and adoption”
IPTL will be played in typically indoor stadiums across four Asian countries - Philippines, Singapore, India and UAE from 28 November to 13 December 2014. The India leg of the IPTL that is scheduled to be held in Delhi would be witness to Tennis greats like Roger Federer, who would be playing in India for the first time, besides Novak Djokovic, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, Goran Ivanisevic and Pete Sampras
Speaking on the announcement, IPTL founder and MD Mahesh Bhupathi said, “Given Star Sports’s network strength and their commitment to growing sport in the country, our decision to partner with them was an easy one. We're confident that the IPTL's quicker and more exciting format, bundled with Star Sports' strength in packaging and promotion will lend greatly to delivering a great viewing experience to sports fans, and attracting new ones to the game!”
The IPTL is slated to kick start from November 28, 2014. The league is being organized by the 12-time doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam Champion and winner of 52 ATP doubles titles Mahesh Bhupathi.
Each IPTL match will consist of five sets played by different players that will include men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and former Champions singles. Each game won counts as one point for the team points total and the team that wins the most games overall across the five sets wins the match. The IPTL matches will feature live entertainment, a running shot clock and many more features to ’Break the Code’ of the traditional etiquette of tennis to attract a new audience to the sport across the world.
Tournament Schedule
Players List
