Sports India

South Asia’s biggest sporting spectacle, Sunfeast Open 2005 will be shown live and exclusive on Ten Sports. Following the massive success of the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, Ten Sports will continue its high-class live tennis action with its exclusive coverage of the US$-170,000, Tier III WTA Tour event being held in Kolkata from Sept 19 to Sept 25, 2005.

Sania-mania is expected to continue when the Sunfeast Open starts at the revamped Netaji Indoor Stadium from Monday, September 19. Sania Mirza will be the star attraction of the tournament, and buoyed by her strong showing in the US Open, she would be hoping to win her second WTA Tour title.

However, the Hyderabad lass, who is now ranked 34th in the world, will face tough challenge from world No 13, Anastasia Myskina of Russia. Also in the main field are former world number 17 Karolina Sprem of Croatia, Thai star Tamarine Tanasugarn and Australian Nicole Pratt.

Live telecast of the matches on Ten Sports will start at 7:00 pm IST on the first two days of the tournament, and from 6:00 pm from Wednesday onwards till the final on Sunday.

“Ten Sports is delighted to be associated with the Sunfeast Open. We are committed to showing sports which have significance for the Indian sub-continent fans, and I am sure each and every sports fan in the country is excited about the prospects of Sania doing well,” said Chris McDonald, CEO, Taj Television Limited, owners of Ten Sports.

Among the other interesting aspects of the tournament would be the appearance of Shikha Uberoi, who is being hailed as the next most promising thing to happen to Indian women’s tennis after Sania Mirza, and the doubles team of Sania and world’s No. 1 women’s double player Virginia Ruano Pascual.
Date Time Schedule
19.09.05 19.00 WTA Sunfeast Open Day 1 (Live)
20.09.05 7:45
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 1 H/L’s
19:00
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 2 (Live)
21.09.05 7:45
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 2 H/L’s
18.00 WTA Sunfeast Open Day 3 (Live)
22.09.05 7:45
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 3 H/L’s
18:00
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 4 (Live)
23.09.05 7:45
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 4 H/L’s
18:00
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 5 (Live)
24/9/05
7:45
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 5 H/L’s
18:00
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 6 (Live)
25/9/05 7:30
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 6 H/L’s
18:00
WTA Sunfeast Open Day 7 (Live)

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 championships, 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.

Sunfeast announces winners of Sunfeast Open Ball Boy / Ball Girl Contest

Kolkata, September 17, 2005: ITC Foods today unveiled a novel school student-inspired trophy for the upcoming Sunfeast Open 2005. The trophy portrays the spirit and nature of the tournament and draws its inspiration from the award winning design created by Ipsita Saha of St. John’s Diocesan High School. Ipsita was recently announced the winner of the Sunfeast Open 2005 Trophy Design Competition, run by Sunfeast across schools in Kolkata.

The 300 mm tall trophy has a top portion carved in radiant crystal with a glittering rhodium plated pedestal. The design created by Ipsita Saha has been etched inside the crystal crown through a specialized etching process executed magnificently by a professional crystal etching house from Israel.

On the occasion, Sunfeast also announced the winners of the Sunfeast Open Ball Boy / Ball Girl Contest. The four lucky kids – Advetya from Hyderabad, Magali Vaz from Mumbai, Shriya Arora from Delhi and Saurabh Choradiya from Bangalore – will now have a chance to be the ball boys and ball girls in a match to be played on center court during the tournament and rub shoulders with the likes of international tennis stars – Sania Mirza, Anastasia Myskina and others.

With the aim to connect with one of the key audiences – children, Sunfeast had undertaken several exciting initiatives by offering unique participating opportunities for the children at the Sunfeast Open 2005. For the first time ever in the history of Indian sports school children were involved to such an extent with a global level tournament like the Sunfeast Open 2005.

The Sunfeast Open Ball Boy / Ball Girl Contest organised in association with Disney Channel was another unique endeavor to popularize tennis and create ownership for the Sunfeast Open 2005 amongst the tennis loving children in the country.

In its endeavour to take the game and the tournament closer to audiences, Sunfeast has planned an exciting horse-driven chariot roadshow with international tennis stars presenting a reminiscent of the old world charm of Kolkata. The roadshow will start at 4.30 p.m. tomorrow and go along the following route:

- Starts from Netaji indoor Stadium at 4.30 p.m. and proceeds towards Eden Gardens (Maidan Side)
- From Eden Gardens the horse-driven chariot will go to Princep Ghat and halt briefly for media interactions.
- The Horse-driven chariot with the international tennis stars will thereafter return to Netaji Indoor Stadium.

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 championships, 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.

Sunfeast Open 2005, gives yet another chance to tennis enthusiasts and fans to get up close and personal with some of the world’s leading women’s tennis players. To participate in the ‘Sunfeast Open Contest’, contestants are required to log on to www.sunfeastopen.com and answer a simple question. One randomly picked winner gets an all-expense-paid trip to watch the Sunfeast Open 2005 live in Kolkata. The winner gets to be a celebrity guest at the Sunfeast Open and will experience the taste of tennis highlife and seven star hotel stay.

Kolkata, September 17: The Indian presence at the Sunfeast Open will only get more pronounced with either Isha Lakhani or Ankita Bhambri becoming the fifth player of Indian descent to compete in the singles main draw. Isha and Ankita open qualifying proceedings on Centre Court tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the main draw was announced today. Russian top seed Anastasia Myskina will face Romanian Edina Gallovits in the opening round. In the bottom half, third seed Sania Mirza is pitted against a qualifier and the world No 34 will not meet Russian Elena Likhovtseva before the semi-finals. The Russian second seed is slated to open her campaign against Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak. However, in the most interesting all-Indian first round encounter, Neha Uberoi takes on Sunitha Rao, the latter all geared up to make the most of the lucky entry into the main draw. The older Uberoi sibling, Shikha, will face Japanese Ryoko Fuda, with whom she had a hitting session on Thursday.

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Doubles world No 1 and wild card entrant Virginia Ruano Pascual would have ideally hoped for a more favourable draw than launch her campaign against fellow Spaniard and sixth seed Laura Pous Tio. Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn faces Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson in her opening match.

The draw

Anastasia Myskina (1, Rus) Vs Edina Gallovits (Rom), Galina Voskoboeva (Rus) Vs Victoria Azarenka (Blr), Shikha Uberoi (Ind) Vs Ryoko Fuda (Jpn), Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp) Vs Rika Fujiwara (8, Jpn), Maria Elena Camerin (4, Ita) Vs Q, Nicole Pratt (Aus) Vs Sybille Bammer (Aut), Kaia Kanepi (Est) Vs Q, Virginia Ruano Pascual (WC, Esp) Vs Laura Pous Tio (6, Esp), Karolina Sprem (7, Cro) Vs Evie Dominikovic (Aus), Villmarie Castellvi (Pur), Vs Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Sui), Ma Emilia Salerni (Arg) Vs Melinda Czink (Hun), Sania Mirza (3, Ind) Vs Q, Antonella Serra Zanetti (5, Ita) Vs Q, Sofia Arvidsson (Swe) Vs Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha), Neha Uberoi (WC, Ind) Vs Sunitha Rao (USA), Yuliana Fedak (Ukr) Vs Elena Likhovtseva (2 WC, Rus).

Sunfeast Open provided a unique opportunity to International players to revisit the charm of the old world Kolkata through an exciting buggy (horse driven chariots) ride. The players traveled through the arterial roads around the lungs (Maidans) of the city to experience an eclectic blend of a traditional and contemporary impression of Kolkata.

Commencing from Netaji Indoor Stadium, the players – Galina Voskoboeva (Rus), Ryoko Fuda (JPN), Melinda Czink (Hun), Maria Elena Camerin (Italy), Antonella Serra Zanetti (Italy), Laura Pous Tio (Spain), Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Swiz), Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain) and Sunita Rao (USA) accompanied by WTA official Kirsten Wallace – saw some of the historic landmarks like the world renowned Eden Gardens, the historic Raj Bhawan (Governor House), Vidhan Sabha, the architectural edifice of British Era – Shahid Minar before halting at Princep Ghat, the oldest leisure spot for common man in Kolkata. Princep Ghat presented one of the best contrasts of the ancient and modern engineering brilliance in the city. The stupendous ancient Howrah Bridge & the modern Vidyasagar Setu set above the Hooghly river presented a memorable picturesque view for international players to take back home.

Undertaken with the aim of connecting with the sports loving people of Kolkata, the ‘Buggy Ride’ presented a reminiscent of the old world charm of Kolkata while offering the citizens of Kolkata a chance to see the leading international tennis players – up-close and in person.

India’s controversial rising star Sania Mirza became Tuesday the first seed to be knocked out of the 225,000-dollar WTA Wismilak tennis tournament on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Eighth-seeded Mirza, 18, lost her first-round singles match 6-3, 6-2 in just 57 minutes to unseeded Russian Ekaterina Bychkova.

“Everyone has bad days and it’s my bad day today,” said Mirza, who reached the fourth round of the US Open earlier this month.

“I wasn’t really in it. I was not in my rhythm,” she said, praising the play of her opponent and unable to explain the loss except to say she was rushing too much.

Sania mania gripped India when she reached the third round of the Australian Open in January, won the WTA Hyderabad Open in February and beat reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai in March.

For her defeat Tuesday she wore a short skirt similar to those for which Muslim clerics in India have criticized her. They have accused Mirza, herself a Muslim, of playing “half-naked” and being a corrupting influence on women.

Although knocked out of singles play in Bali, Mirza is to play in a doubles match on Wednesday.

Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza will receive extra security after an Islamic group opposed to her on-court dress threatened to stop her from playing in next week’s WTA event, police said on Friday.

Muslim clergymen have denounced the 18-year-old player for wearing skimpy skirts and colourful sleeveless tops on court, which they say are un-Islamic.

The teenager has emerged as one of India’s most visible sporting icons following a sensational year in which she has climbed to 34 in the WTA world rankings. In a country dominated by cricket, companies are queuing up to sign endorsements with her. Mirza has refused to be drawn on the controversy over her clothes and is scheduled to play in Kolkata beginning on Monday, despite the call by a powerful Islamic group to stop her.

The group, Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, has warned that its members would try to prevent Mirza from playing if she did not wear “proper clothes.” What she wears offends Islam. She will be stopped from playing if she doesn’t adhere to it,” Siddiqullah Chowdhry, the group’s chief, told Reuters. Police are tightening security following the call.

Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium is all set to host the Sunfeast Open beginning on September 17.

The centre court will see top women tennis stars like Sania Mirza, Anastasia Myskina, Sikha Uberoi and Antanello Zanetti battle it out during the nine-day event.

The facility was tested by former Indian captain Jaideep Mukherji and Enrico Piperno on Tuesday, who felt the stadium was in perfect condition to host India’s second WTA tour event of the year.

Two courts have been prepared for the international event. The Sunfeast Open 2005 will have prize money of US $170,000.

A keen contest, one that the organisers are eagerly anticipating, appears to be on the cards.

With the explosion of talent in women’s tennis in India, the tournament will allow Indians to see a new generation of Indian women and the tennis fans in Kolkata could not have asked for more.

Sania Mirza would have liked it faster, but it will suit Shikha Oberoi just fine. We are talking about the Sunfeast Open courts at the Netaji Indoor Stadium which were unveiled today, ones that according to former Davis Cuppers Jaidip Mukerjea and Enrico Piperno, are a little on the slower side. Both Mukerjea and Piperno had a hitting session on Court No.2 and declared that it played true, meaning that it had an even bounce. “It will help both baseliners and serve-and-volleyers. This is the kind of court where no player will be blown away,” they said.

The synthetic courts have been manufactured by Greenset, a Spanish company co-owned by Javier Sanchez.

Promising Neha Uberoi has been given a wild card for the WTA Sunfeast Open tennis tournament starting in Kolkata Sep 19, the organisers announced Monday.

Along with the latest tennis sensation Sania Mirza, Neha and her elder sister Shikha will complete a trio of Indians at South Asia’s biggest sporting spectacle, the organisers said in a statement.

In order to make the most of the given opportunity, both Neha and Shikha will be arriving early to Kolkata, Tuesday.

They are skipping a tournament in Bali, Indonesia, and are reaching early to get acclimatised and prepare to the conditions for the tournament.