$170K WTA Sunfeast Open Kolkata (Uberois in Doubles Final!)

[jayakris]

Full text of the Press release -

--------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release (from Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, Mumbai, and Globosport)

World No. 9 Anastasia Myskina confirms participation for Sunfeast Open 2005

Russian domination set to take centre stage at South Asia's biggest sporting spectacle

Mumbai, July 31, 2005: Former World No 2 and 2004 French Open Champion, Anastasia Myskina has confirmed her participation for singles draw at the Sunfeast Open 2005, scheduled for September 19-25, 2005 to be held at the Netaji Subhash Indoor tennis Stadium in Kolkata. The Russian has won nine singles WTA tour titles including titles at Roland Garros, Doha and Moscow till date with total career prize earnings of over US$ 4.4 million. Globosport and Myskina are also exploring the possibility of she partnering with Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza for the doubles draw.

Says Mahesh Bhupathi, Managing Director, Globosport India Pvt. Ltd., "The WTA tour is presently dominated by the amazing Russians and Anastasia Myskina was the first female Russian player who started this trend with her victory in French Open 2004. She is a Grand Slam Champion and has been ranked amongst the top 10 in the last three years and we can certainly expect some great tennis from her at Sunfeast Open in Kolkata. Confirmation from players of her calibre so much in advance will definitely go a long way in attracting good talent and make Sunfeast Open 2005, a roaring success. With Indian tennis making its mark in international arena, her participation comes as a major coup and will see the field looking more impressive in the days to come."

Says Ravi Naware, ITC Foods Divisional Chief Executive, "ITC as a company has always believed in ensuring India has access to the best in the world. ITC Foods' sponsorship of the Sunfeast Open 2005, Kolkata is a continuation of this proud tradition. We are really very proud to be host to a top 10 player like Anastasia Myskina and are confident that she will provide us with some great tennis action."

Speaking on the confirmation, former tennis legend and the Tournament Director, Jaideep Mukherjee said, "After cricket, tennis is fast becoming a popular sport in the country and Kolkata is proud to play host to one of the emerging talents of women's tennis. Myskina is not only a great tennis player but also a good ambassador for the women's tour. Her participation augurs well for the Sunfeast Open 2005 and will enable in successfully showcasing Kolkata in the global sports map."

Myskina's started playing competitive tennis in 1995 when she played the first three ITF circuits events in Russia. In 1999, she made her WTA tour debut as a qualifier at Tashkent. Anastasia Myskina has been instrumental in the Russian teams' victory at the Federation Cup finals in 2004. She will be playing at the US Open in August 2005 and aim to defend the Fed Cup title for Russia in early September before heading for the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata.

In 2005, after a mixed start to the season, Myskina has picked up steam in the latter half of the year with some memorable performances making it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and also winning consecutive matches to take Russia to the finals of the Federation Cup. Her most memorable moment came when, in the Fed Cup semifinals, she went 2-0 in singles action, defeating V.Williams and Craybas in Russia's 4-1 victory against United States. Her goal for 2005 is to become the first woman from Russia to be ranked No.1 in the world in singles.

The year 2004 was the career-best season for Anastasia Myskina highlighted by first Grand Slam title and Top 5 finish (one of three Russians in Top 5 year-end rankings). She recovered from match point down to win the French Open thus becoming the only Roland Garros winner after DuPont in 1946 and Margaret Court in 1962 to do so. With her first career Grand Slam win; she also became the first female Russian Grand Slam singles champion. In 2004, she successfully defended her titles at Doha and at Moscow. She also has to her credit closing out the longest singles third-set tiebreak in WTA Tour history on fifth match point. She made Top 5 debut at No.5 after Doha on March 8 (first Russian woman in Top 5 since inception of computer rankings in 1975), moved up to No.3 after Roland Garros on June 7, reaching career-high No.2 on September 13, finishing year at No.3. She won her first two doubles titles at Bali partnering with Ai Sugiyama and Moscow partnering Zvonareva.

"This is my first visit to India and Iam really excited to be part of this event. Competing at the Sunfeast Open 2005 would be a great confidence booster and will provide the impetus to improve my rankings and stay on top of the Champions race during 2005," said Myskina.

Myskina has also been a great ambassador for the WTA tour. She was honoured at the WTA Tour Diamond Aces Award winner for 2004 and in 2005 was recently awarded with "Commitment to Community" Award by Florida Times-Union and Water's Edge Magazine at Amelia Island.

About the Sunfeast Open: Touted as South Asia's biggest sporting spectacle, Sunfeast Open 2005 is Tier III WTA (Women Tennis Association) event with prize money of US$170,000. It will be played at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata from September 19-25, 2005. The Sunfeast Open 2005, Kolkata is a new event that is being added for the first time to the WTA Tour 7championships, and will feature some of the world's leading players as well the new generation of Indian stars led by Sania Mirza and Shikha Uberoi. The tournament is being brought to Kolkata by Globosport, the sports management company owned by Mahesh Bhupathi, under the auspices of the Government of West Bengal. With the explosion of talent in women's tennis in India, the Sunfeast Open 2005 - Kolkata will allow Indians to see a new generation of Indian women take on the best in the world in their own backyard.
-------------------------------------

They also say that they are "exploring the possibility" of Myskina and Sania playing doubles together .. Jay

[PKBasu]

Looks like a pilgrimage back home to Kolkata in late September has become a must -- and an extra one will be required a fortnight before Durga Pujo.

[amr090]

So 1 top 10 player...is there a possibility of a 2nd joining the fray...or is this about what we can expect for a tier III event?

[shaili]

great news about myskina!

very true about serena. we cant be sure if she will actually be there.

how i wish i could go to cal. actually my mom is going around the same time on work. maybe i should just tag along. its so tempting. (more than the sponsors international quality food products!)

do they have a website? entry list etc???

[amr090]

so is the the ont top 10 player we are getting, or are there others on the way....I guess 1 top 10 player for a tier III is a lot but it would be nice to get the Williams sisters or something...

[amr090]

is the forum working?? for some reason new posts arent showing up right...

[Sandeep]

very true about serena. we cant be sure if she will actually be there.

She is not coming. I guess they have said this long time ago, she is going to china as it is a tier II event.

[Red_Indian]

I am supposed to go to Kolkata this week - maybe I can delay it until next month!!!!

[XYZ]

I read in TOI that Sania might pay doubles with Myskina.

[jaydeep]

Thanks Jay for sharing this news .... So orgniser managed to bring atleast one top 10 player ...

Jaydeep.

[luked6]

What are your thoughts on the tourney having only a 16 player qualifying draw?

This severely reduces the of potential Indians being able to play qualifying. As long they initially enter the event, they can directly make the qualifying without needing a WC (ranking permitting of course).

I wonder if there's any way for the tourney to change it into a 32 player draw by then?

This is too good of an opportunity for Indian talents to miss out on just because of an organisational decision.

[BSharma]

I recently spoke with one of the organizers of a Challenger event for men that takes place in my city every year or so (I hope you can guess why I was doing so ), and asked him why the number of players in the qualifying draw is being reduced these days, and his answer was that it has to do with the greater effort that it requires to organize a bigger qualifying tournament. The Challenger events do not bring in big crowds, and the sponsors are looking for big named tennis players rather than those in the 250+ range. The tennis fans want opportunities for the players, and the organizers and sponsors see it differently. Sad but true.

[luked6]

Yeah, it's sad that most of these Asian tourneys are concerned more about money that their players...

[jayakris]

Actually the 16 draw qualies is rather common in many indoor events. The problem is normally a lack of courts. I am not sure how many courts they are planning to put in at the Netaji indoors arena - probably only three, in which case it is nearly impossible to hold a 32-draw qualies (and still have a court for practoce hitting etc). I assume t his was mostly why the draw size is 16.

It may be a good idea to have a wildcard tournament for Indians earlier though. Just have 8 players compete for 2 spots. Actually 1 from among those 8 Indians (possibly in the 450-750 range) may have as good or better chance to reach the final 16 of qualies than to take part in the 32-draw qaulies against top-350 type players ..

Jay

[luked6]

Only 4 tourneys in the WTA calendar this year have 16 player qualifying draws (Kolkata, Guangzhou, Tashkent & Bali). As you can see, they're all in Asia and apart from Kolkata, they're all outdoor tourneys.

The Tokyo tourney in February has a 32 player qualifying draw and indoors too. They only use a few courts then too, so it's definitely not impossible. Since it's indoors, there's no reason why they can't start early and then carry on through to night.

Any pics of the interior of Netaji Stadium? I wonder how good the facilities are there including locker rooms, player lounge, etc?