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Shanghai attracts world's best
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-02 16:47
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.
Chinese fans watch
from behind a screen fence as Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova
practises in Shanghai in this September 8, 2002 file photo. Highlighting a
lucrative growth market, sponsors and businessmen involved with tennis are
understandably delighted with the decision to return the lucrative
season-ending Tennis Masters Cup to China.
[Reuters] |
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.
Chinese grid girls
make way for Formula One drivers at the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix at
the Shanghai Circuit in this September 26, 2004 file photo. The world's
most populous country is waking up to Formula One and the money-burning
sport is eager to tap into it. While some Chinese companies now seem ready
to embrace the sport after initial wariness, teams and foreign
multi-nationals are clear about Formula One's usefulness as a platform to
promote brand awareness. [Reuters] | The event was a popular success with organisers breaking even thanks to
direct earnings from strong sponsorship, ticket sales and television
broadcasting rights.
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."
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