Prime Table Tennis: Anuj, Anusha among top buys in MP leg auction

Anuj Soni and Anusha Kutumbale were among the top buys of the recently concluded auction for the Madhya Pradesh leg of the second edition of Prime Table Tennis, set to happen in December 2024.

A total of 56 players were picked up by eight teams, as the domestic table tennis tournament will for the first time venture into the state of Madhya Pradesh after its inaugural edition concentrating in Maharashtra.

The tournament's first leg is set to take place between December 13 and 15, at the Abhay Prashal Club in Indore, after which the bandwagon will move to Maharashtra for its second leg, set to happen in January 2025.

Each team went into the auction with the objective of filling their quota of seven players, between the age group of 11-60.

The eight teams that went into the auction are:

Clippers, Ninja, SensaTTion, Spartans, Thunderbolt, Yodhas, Lion Warrior, and King Pong.

Top buys of the Madhya Pradesh PTT auction

Anuj Soni of the Rookie Boy category was the top buy of the auction, fetching a whopping 43,00,000 auction points, and was acquired by the Lion Warriors.

Anusha Kutumbale from the Marquee Women category was bought by Clippers for 38,00,000 auction points, the second-highest buy in the auction.

Himani Chaturvedi is the third highest auction buy, with SensaTTions buying her for 31,00,000 auction points. She too belongs to the Marquee Women category.

Pankaj Kumar is the highest buy from the Marquee Men category, bought by Clippers for 30,00,000 auction points.

Furthermore, from the Scoutee Boy and Scoutee Girl categories, Mradhul Joshi and Aaradhya Rajpoot fetched the most price, both bought by Spartans and Thunderbolts respectively.

Star players from each category of PTT-MP

With the auctions done and dusted, here are the star players from each category:

Marquee Men: Shivam Solanki

Marquee Women: Anusha Kutumbale

Protegee Boy: Shourya Bhagia

Rookie Boy: Anuj Soni

Sage: Santosh Khirwadkar

Scoutee Boy: Vansh Chouhan

Scoutee Girl: Zakiya Sultan

Bhavya Rao is the expected future champion as well.

About Prime Table Tennis

Prime Table Tennis is a domestic table tennis league that began its inaugural edition in Maharashtra in 2022, and in 2024, is back with the second edition.

A major change in the second edition is the expansion of the domestic league into Madhya Pradesh, intending to increase access to quality table tennis competitions for the paddlers from this state.

With the fast-growing nature of the sport and its popularity in the country, PTT's CEO Abhishek Jain reckons the league has the potential to become the premier domestic league of India, attracting top talents from across the country and beyond.

"We aim to establish Prime Table Tennis as the leading table tennis league in India by continuously improving the player experience and enhancing fan engagement. In the long term, we want to develop PTT into a world-class league that not only nurtures national talent but also attracts international players," he said, in a previous interaction with The Bridge.