India
Test Cricket Captain Virat Kohli Starts Tennis
Innings: Joins ‘UAE Royals’ as Co-Owner
Innings: Joins ‘UAE Royals’ as Co-Owner
DUBAI,
UAE 10th
Sep 2015(Sana Sayed):One of the greatest tennis players of all time and current
world number two, Roger Federer has joined the UAE Royals franchise in the second
season of the Coca-Cola International
Premier Tennis League (IPTL) 2015 that will be held from 2nd to 20th
December 2015. 
The announcement was made today at an event in Dubai that was
attended by Mahesh Bhupathi, Managing Director - IPTL; India’s current test
cricket captain and co-owner of the UAE RoyalsVirat Kohli;Neelesh Bhatnagar
and Sachin Gadoya, co-ownersUAE Royals and Praveen Bhatnagar,CEO UAE Royals.
Roger joins a
formidable team of tennis superstars that include Goran Ivanisevic, 2001
Wimbledon Champion; Ana Ivanovic,
the 2008 French Open winner and current world no. 7; Daniel Nestor, winner of 88 men’s doubles titles; Kristina Mladenovic, winner of the 2014
Australian Open and 2013 Wimbledon Championships andTomas Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon Championship finalist. The UAE legof
the leaguewill be held from 14-16
December 2015 at the
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
“I have always followed
tennis with great interest and today I am glad to be part of a professional
tennis league team,” said Virat Kohli at the official unveiling of the UAE Royals team for the second season of IPTL
2015. “I am a huge fan of Roger Federer and with him joining the UAE Royals, my
decision to be on board with the team was firm. The UAE Royals feature some of
tennis’ greatest players and I am confident about the prospects of the team in
the IPTL. I am also excited about the format of the IPTL, which I am sure will
drive further interest in the game of tennis.”
“UAE is fast getting
recognized as a global sporting hub and the country has already hosted several
internationally reputed events. With the participationof UAE Royals in the
IPTL, we have now succeeded in bringing a unique and exciting format of tennis
that will certainly add impetus to UAE being recognised as a key sports
destination,” said Neelesh Bhatnagar. “With Roger Federer in our team
and Virat Kohli on board, the UAE Royals have much to celebrate in the second
season of IPTL.”
The innovative,
team-based, multi-nation tennis league has expanded to five teams for its
second edition with the Japan Warriors joining last season’s champions, the
Indian Aces, alongside the UAE Royals, the Philippine Mavericks and the
Singapore Slammers, in a five city swing starting on 2nd December in Japan and
ending at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium for the grand finale on December 20th.
IPTL 2015 will see the top two teams in the league standings playoff to
determine the champion for Season Two on Dec 20thin Singapore.
“UAE has tremendous
tennis following and we are excited to be back in the country with the second
edition of the IPTL,” said Mahesh Bhupathi, IPTL’s Founder and Managing
Director. “Fans in the UAE and world over have embraced the innovative and
unique format of the IPTL and we have hence made the event bigger in 2015. With
Roger joining the UAE Royals, we are confident that tennis fans in the UAE will
come out to support their team in great numbers.”
The IPTL, reaching TV
audiences in over 125 countries, was established with the aim to ‘break the
code’ of the traditional tennis format, with single-set, no-ad scoring to speed
up the games. This will enable fans to witness20top players competing in one
evening in various match-upsconsisting of singles, doubles, mixed-doubles and
legends sets. Other unique facets will again feature prominently in this year’s
edition, including Happiness PowerPoints, Shoot-outs, a running shot clock and
exciting in-game live music and entertainment.
Tennis fans and
followers can soon purchase tickets in UAE through Ticketmaster, the official ticketing
partner for UAE Royals, for the games held between 14th – 16th
December at the Dubai Duty Free Stadium. The first 500 registrants will receive
a 10% discount; to register please log onto www.uaeroyals.com.
Fans outside of UAE, can log onto Viagogo, the international online ticketing
partner to purchase tickets.
Fans and followers to stay
tuned on the website for more details.
