The five-day event will feature the best players from Gujarat & India who would compete over 32 matches
Ahmedabad, August 04, 2022: The Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) is all set to host the first edition of the GSL Table Tennis League from August 17-21, 2022, in Ahmedabad. The event will be held at The Arena by Trans Stadia situated in the Kankaria area of the city. The idea of hosting the annual event is to promote the popularity of the game and encourage more players and new talent to join the league and participate and provide a competitive platform to table tennis enthusiasts. The five-day event will feature the best of players from India and Gujarat who will compete over some 32 matches.
The GSL Table Tennis League is poised to be one of the most revered ones in India and every year, and the idea is to provide a platform to teams and participants belonging to different cities from across Gujarat to contest in this tournament.
The league is being held just like any other professional league matches, with the local business community contributing to form teams and carry out player auctions. The franchise acquired players through the auction with a collective sum of Rs 22 lakh.
Eight teams sponsored by franchise owners will participate in the league. These include Bhayani Stars from Bhavnagar owned by Jatin and Shrey Bhayani of the N. J Bhayani Group of Companies; Kataria Kings from Ahmedabad owned by Rohan Kataria of the Kataria Automobiles Private Limited; Multimet Marvels from Ahmedabad, owned by Harshad Panchal of Multimet Tech Fab Ltd; Shamal Squad from Surat owned by Sham Shah, Purvesh Jariwala, Malay Thakkar; Tapti Tigers from Surat owned by Pramod Chaudhary, chairman, of Tapti Valley International School; R World Royals from Gandhinagar, owned by Pradipsinh Chudasama of R World Leisure Private Limited; TopNotch Achievers from Anand owned by Keyur Doshi and Manoj Sivaya of Top Notch Foods LLP and Winasia Dazzlers from Kutch, owned by Ajay Nair of WinWin Maritime Limited and Ranjit Singh of Asiatic Containers India Private Limited.
“Table tennis in Gujarat has catapulted to dizzying heights over the years with more players taking interest in the sport. The state-level players across categories have been performing exceedingly well at the national and international championships. The GSL Table Tennis League is a platform aimed at providing the right exposure and opportunity to the junior-level budding players to compete with top senior players and hone their gaming skills right. Highly experienced coaches as well as senior members of the team also interact with the young and dynamic players and guide them on sharpening their moves,” said Shri Vipul Mittra IAS, president, GSTTA.
The league matches shall be played in two stages: The teams shall play the matches in a round robin format with each team playing with one another. Each winning game shall count with winning points. The winning game points shall be added to the total of each team.
At the conclusion of the first stage, top four teams with the maximum winning points would qualify for the second stage.
The top two teams from the league first stage will play against each other in the first Qualifying match, with the winner going straight to the final. The losing team gets another chance to qualify for the final by playing the second Qualifying match. Meanwhile, the third and fourth place teams from league first stage play against each other in an eliminator match. The winner from that match will play the loser from the first Qualifying match. The winner of the second Qualifying match will play the winner of the first Qualifying match in the Final match.
Each team would be a combination of registered players of Gujarat and International / National players from other states. The team composition will include two of Men’s category (India and Gujarat rank), Juniors (Under 17 – Men and Women); two Women’s category (India and Gujarat rank) and one Male/ Female category with 39+ years of age with Gujarat-ranked players.
Key players who will be participating in the tournament include Harmeet Desai; Sanil Shetty; Manush Shah; Manav Thakkar; Sreeja Akula; Mouma Das; Reeth Rishya; Soumyajit Ghosh; Krittwika Sinha Roy; Ishaan Hingorani; Frenaz Chipia and Filzah Kadri. Among the coaches are A. Rajath Kamal, Murlidhar Rao, Anshul Garg, Deepak Malik, Parag Agarwal, Anol Kashyap, Somnath Ghosh and N. Ravichandran.
Established in 1962, GSTTA is affiliated with the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and is one of the most active among the formal and recognised sports bodies across Gujarat. GSTTA in fact, represents Gujarat teams in all major national and international championships organised by TTFI. Gujarat has excellent infrastructure in a number of cities to host National and International events including hosting of Avadh 20th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship -2015 and 30th Table Tennis Asian Cup – 2017.
For more information, please contact Kushal Sangtani @ 9913729004
