Karim Khan, and Aakansha Nitture emerged champions in the men's and women's section respectively in the Tennis Premier League's Mumbai Talent Day selection trials, played at the MSLTA over the weekend. While Khan opted to join Pune Jaguars, Aakansha chose Mumbai Leon Army and the two will join the professional players in the league, to be played from December 14-18, 2021.
Also making the grade as the second-best were Nittin Kirtane and Laalitya Reddy. Kirtane will join Mumbai Leon Army while Laalitya will turn out for Pune Jaguars. All the four also won a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each, according to results announced by the organisers here on Saturday.
While Kirtane will join Ramkumar Ramanathan and Niki Poonacha in the Mumbai Leon Army Team, Kari Khan will get an opportunity to play alongside Saketh Myneni. While women's winner Aakansha will join hands with Georgia's Sofia Shapatava in the Mumbai team, Laalitya will partner with Pune Jaguars' Rutuja Bhosle.
The U-18 contest for girls was won by Ruma Gaikwari, with Bhumika Tripathi finishing No. 2, while Gajanan Mangela triumphed in the 35-plus age group, followed by Ramzan Shaikh.
A total of 400 players registered for the Mumbai Talent day in various categories to vie the different age-group slots on the Mumbai team.
Teams
Mumbai Leon Army: Ramkumar Ramanathan, Nikki Poonacha, Sofia Shapatava (Georgia)
Delhi Binny's Brigade: Yuki Bhambri, Manish Sureshkumar, Peangtarn Plipuech (Thailand)
Chennai Stallions: Purav Raja, Sidharth Rawat, Samantha Murray Sharan (Great Britain)
Bengaluru Spartans: Jeevan N, N Sriram Balaji, Sabina Sharipova (Uzbekistan)
Hyderabad Strikers: Arjun Kadhe, Vishnu Vardhan, Ankita Raina
Rajasthan Tigers: Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Aryan Goveas, Diana Marcinkevica (Latvia)
Gujarat Panthers: Divij Sharan, Vijay Sundar Prashant, Valeryla Strakhova (Ukraine)
Pune Jaguars: Saketh Myneni, Ishaque Iqbal, Rutuja Bhosle.
