Table Tennis will soon join the position of cricket, football, badminton and kabaddi in July, when the Ultimate Table Tennis Championship gets underway for its inaugural season.

The tournament will be played between 13th and 30th of July with six teams vying for glory. The league will be aided by the Mumbai-based firm, 11Even Sports Pvt. Ltd. (ESPL), who will be looking at developing and nurturing the sport in the country in accordance to their 10-year agreement with the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

Delhi and Mumbai have been shortlisted by the promoters as possible venues. However, they are yet to finalise on the third location. Chennai and Bengaluru are solid contenders to fill in the third and final spot. A total of 15 group stage matches, 2 eliminators in the semifinals and the final will be played in the 18-day long event to raise the bar of table tennis in India.

An eye-popping prize money of INR 3 crore will be up for grabs and ESPL is keen on signing as many players from the top 50 as possible, from around the globe.

According to the format of the league, 48 players in total will be enrolled into the league with 24 men and the same number of women. Half of the players will be from India while the remaining twenty-four will be from overseas. Each team will have to compulsorily play one U-21 player to encourage young talent from India.

Speaking about elevating the sport in India, Chairperson of ESPL, Vita Dani said, "Through Ultimate Table Tennis Championship, we are embarking on an exciting journey of transforming table tennis from being largely a recreational activity in India to a mainstream sport."

"The success of the recently concluded ITTF World Tour India Open in Delhi gives us the confidence for creating a compact and permanent fixture in the international calendar window for an Indian origin world level event. We are working on adding a few innovative concepts which would bring in excitement among the audience and newer challenges to the participants," she added.