Everything is on track, IPTL will pan out as planned: Mahesh Bhupathi

There is no threat to the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), veteran Indian star Mahesh Bhupathi said today, asserting that none of the team owners has pulled out and a multi-year deal was firmly in place with the country's biggest broadcaster for his ambitious event.

Bhupathi woke up in Spain to frantic calls from Indian media asking about the future of IPTL in the wake of a pullout by PVP Ventures as claimed by a media report.

Bhupathi though said everything was on track, laughing off the report. "Micromax are the owners of the Mumbai Franchisee. PVP Group along with Sachin Tendulkar were in talks but deadlines were not met," Bhupathi told PTI from Spain. "Our league is structured in such a way that players have to be paid at regular intervals. PVP office told me that they are busy fighting elections in Andhra. Obviously payments could not wait, so we went on and got another team in India. I have an e-mail confirmation from PVP saying go ahead," the veteran star explained.

"PVP were in discussions to buy the India franchisee but unfortunately PVP got busy with elections and could not make payments timelines and hence we sourced another team." Bhupathi also revealed that Micromax have chosen Delhi as venue so their matches will be played in the capital.

Bhupathi said he was "annoyed" with the media reports and it was baffling to see such an article.

"Everything is on track. In fact, in London, three days before the Wimbledon all the owners were there for a workshop and they all met the players. Rahul from Micromax met (Rafael) Nadal. Dubai owners met (Novak) Djokovic and Manila owners met (Andy) Murray, so there are no hiccups, contrary to what that media story says."