Top players for Cue Sports Premier League from May 4

Bengaluru: Elite national players will mix with top state players and members from the Bowring Institute to vie for the top prize in the inaugural Cue Sports Premier League at the club here from May 4.

The tournament will consist of eight teams -- Lightning Legion, Cyclone Crusaders, Summer Tuskers, Hurricane Hawks, Thunderstorm Titans, Tornado Tigers, Whirlwind Warriors and Monsoon Mavericks.

Each of the eight teams will have seven players comprising two elite national players, two top state players and three from hosts Bowring Institute. The franchises assembled their squad during an auction on April 20 with a wallet of Rs 2 crore each.

The teams will play each other in a round-robin format with the top four qualifying for the knockouts. The knockouts will be played in the IPL play-offs format with the top two teams squaring off in Qualifier 1, the winner advancing directly to the final. The third and fourth-placed teams will battle in an Eliminator with the winner setting up a meeting with loser of Qualifier 1. The winner of Qualifier 2 advances to the final on May 10.

Each match will consist of seven frames -- three singles, three doubles and a shoot-out.

"The CSPL is a unique event which is aimed at integrating players of 3 different categories -- national, state and club levels. This is a great chance for players from Bowring to play alongside national players, some of whom are national and world champions. This provides them an opportunity to learn things about the game that they may not get to generally," said 27-time world champion Pankaj Advani, one of the brains behind the tournament, at a press meet on Wednesday.

Apart from Advani, other top national cueists who will be in action are Brijesh Damani, Aditya Mehta, Sourav Kothari, Dhvaj Haria, Shrikrishna, Manan Chandra, Laxman Rawat and Kamal Chawla.

Vidya Pillai, the reigning IBSF 6-red Snooker World Champion, will also compete after being picked up by Monsoon Mavericks.

The tournament will streamed live on Club Liv app.