Chinese or not, Indian TT League in July: Promoter Vita Dani

The inaugural Indian Table Tennis League, which was postponed indefinitely last year due to the Rio Olympics, will finally take off in July, confirmed promoter Vita Dani.
"We have approached all the top players of the world including the Chinese, a lot of them have responded positively and some have not. Whether they (Chinese) come or not, we are going ahead with the league this season," 11Even Sports chairperson, told PTI today.
It has been reliably learnt that the mighty Chinese have not shown much enthusiasm towards the league despite the fact that the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has kept a dedicated window for the event scheduled from July 8 to July 30.

However, top Europeans are expected to join the league and negotiations are currently taking place with the likes of world number five Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany and Belarus' eighth-ranked Vladimir Samsonov, who are competing in the ongoing ITTF World Tour India Open.
Besides the confirmation on the League, Dani further said 11Even Sports has a long term vision for table tennis in the country and therefore assured that the first ever World Tour event taking place here will be a regular feature on the ITTF calendar.
"We are conducting tournaments at the school level, national level and international level. The thing with ITTF events is that you have to bid for them. Firstly, we would like to continue holding World Tour events for the three to four years before bringing something bigger to India," said Dani, who is also the co-owner of Indian Super League franchise Chennaiyin FC.

In 2015, 11Even Sports signed a 10-year deal with TTFI to promote the game in the country.

Dani further said that she is also in talks with the Sports Ministry to set up a Centre of Excellence for table tennis.
She also called on fellow corporates to adopt a single sport promotion policy, like 11Even Sports has done with table tennis.
"This way, sports other than cricket are bound to grow. Government is doing its job but more corporates should come forward and offer long term support to various sports," she added.