|
Home>News Center>Sports | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Shanghai attracts world's best
During the 1930s, Shanghai was a byword for exploitation and vice. Its countless opium dens, gambling joints and brothels proved a magnet for thrill-seekers, drug-takers, gangsters and their molls.
Seventy years on and the central-eastern Chinese city has emerged once again to suck in foreign investment. In 21st century China, Shanghai is a byword for the nation's rise to economic powerhouse status. The city has now set its sights on sport. Cost is not an issue and in 2005 Shanghai will host the lucrative season-ending Tennis Masters Cup, a multi-million dollar tournament featuring the world's best players. From 2005 to 2007, the tournament showcasing the world's top men will be staged at the city's still unfinished Qizhong Tennis Centre. Shanghai planners think big and the centre will be one of the biggest tennis facilities in Asia with a total investment of more than 2.4 billion yuan ($290 million). Due to be completed next May, the tennis centre is being built on 30 hectares in the Minhang District, about 27 kms southwest of the city, and will feature a dual-purpose indoor-outdoor 15,000-seat centre court as well as 40 indoor and outdoor courts, according to city sports officials. Popular Success Organisers are cagey about how much they paid to win the right to stage the Masters Cup, but Shanghai spent some US$13 million to hold the tournament in 2002.
The 2002 event was the biggest professional sporting event China had ever hosted and was a sell-out all week. It gave Shanghai a taste of what was possible and when the nation's booming economic hub set out to capture the lucrative event, there was only going to be one winner. "The success of the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai 2002 proved Shanghai's capabilities in organising international events and helped to elevate Shanghai's position in international circles," said the city's deputy mayor Yang Xiaodu. "Consequently, tennis is developing very rapidly where increasing numbers of people play tennis and more young junior players are being cultivated. I believe that under the leadership of the Shanghai Municipal Government, the National Administration of Sport, and with the support of all groups involved, we are guaranteed to make the 2005-2007 Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai another great success." Shanghai won the right to stage the event after a six-month global bidding process and men's tennis chief Mark Miles, for one, is delighted. "We are thrilled that Shanghai is hosting the Tennis Masters Cup again," the head of the ATP said. Growing Popularity "The city went to great lengths to stage a spectacular, world-class event in 2002 and as a direct result tennis in China is booming. "The popularity will only grow even more with having one of the world's most prestigious tennis events in Shanghai for the next three years." International Tennis Federation (ITF) head Francesco Ricci Bitti echoed Miles's comments. "The Masters Cup in Shanghai is a great platform for the top level of our sport in that region, attracting not only wider audiences but also important sponsorship relationships to tennis and this can only help the ITF as we prepare for the tennis event at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing," he said. Highlighting a lucrative growth market, sponsors and businessmen involved with tennis are understandably delighted with the decision to return to China. Players are also pleased. "Shanghai 2002 was the first time I qualified for the year-end event," said world number one Roger Federer. "It was an unbelievably great experience. The city of Shanghai was fantastic and the people so nice and welcoming. "I would be very happy and proud if I qualified to go to the Tennis Masters
Cup in Shanghai again. This is very good for Asia and the event is great for
promoting tennis in Asia." |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
