Chennai Open: TN cobbles together sponsors' consortium

Chennai Open 2006, the only ATP tennis tournament in south Asia, is on course as the Tamil Nadu government and Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) could put together a consortium of sponsors to raise funding. The tournament will be held between January 2 and 8.

The Tata Group, which was the sponsor of the tournament, had decided to withdraw its sponsorship earlier. There were speculations that the tournament might be cancelled.

The consortium of sponsors include the Tamil Nadu government, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, United India Insurance Corporation, Murugappa Group, Saint Gobain, My TVS , Larsen & Toubro, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd.

"There is a firm commitment from the sponsors that they will continue to support the tournament for the next five years- starting from 2005 until 2009," according to Susan Mathew, secretary to the government, Youth Welfare and Sports Development department. She, however, declined to disclose the extent of sponsorship.

Addressing a press conference here, V Narayanan, president, TNTA, said that the association's partnership with this tournament has helped in identifying and nurturing young talents, thereby paving way for future champions to emerge from India.

Ravi Krishnan, managing director, IMG- TWI south Asia and international vice president of IMG, said, "Tennis, being a great crowd puller in Chennai, this year too we have a galaxy of top players who will be vying with each other for Chennai Open 2006 title."

He added that five players have been selected for the 'Advantage Tamil Nadu', an annual feature, under which IMG takes care of the boarding, lodging and coaching of the selected players and the other expenses would be borne by the TNTA, along with Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT).

The $ 40,000-Chennai Open 2006, owned and organised by IMG, will feature stalwarts like Carlos Moya of Spain and Paradorn Srichapham of Thailand among others.