The Table Tennis League of Champions has been introduced in Harare and there are plans to spread it countrywide.

The TTLC was launched at the UZ Open tournament last week and is expected to start on Saturday.

It is also expected to attract top players in the land.

The league’s director Gracian Bara however, reckons the League of Champions should develop into a big tournament.

“We want it go grow to other provinces, that is basically our plan,” he said.

“In the past years players have just been coming for tournaments and we have been mainly relying on that for our national teams.

“But, you don’t groom players in tournaments,” said Bara.

He believes the dearth of provincial or national league competitions has affected Zimbabwe’s performances in regional tournaments.

“The reason we are failing to compete regionally and internationally is because we don’t have a base where players can compete.

“We have not had a table tennis league for some years now and that is not an ideal situation,” Bara said.