Taipei, May 19 (CNA) A company that has sponsored a second-tier women's tennis tournament in Taiwan for the past two years is now hoping to attract the likes of Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova to Taiwan to play in a high profile invitational event.
Two European players among Henin, Clijsters and Daniela Hantuchova, an American player, who could be Sharapova or one of the Williams sisters, are among those being targeted for a planned eight-player Taipei Ladies Open in 2011, said Robert Han, president of the Orient Express Container (OEC) Group.
Other participants would include a Japanese player and two players each from Taiwan and China, Han said. The invitational is scheduled to be played at Taipei Arena from Sept. 19-24, 2011.
According to Han, the tournament will have a total purse of US$600,000 and additional appearance fees of US$1 million and would be sandwiched between WTA (Women's Tennis Association) Tour tournaments in China and Japan.
"Our goal is to organize a WTA Tour tournament in Taiwan in the future," Han said.
The group is also trying to lure either former world No. 1 Anna Ivanovic of Serbia or Hantuchova to participate in this year's OEC Taipei Ladies Open, part of the second-tier ITF (International Tennis Federation), which will be played from Nov. 1-7 in Taipei, Han said.
Whether Han will be able to draw the biggest names in women's tennis, especially in a sport notorious for late withdrawals due to injury, is open to question.
Local sports promoters often try to draw big name players or events, but have trouble finding the necessary sponsorship.
A reported visit of the Spanish professional football club Real Madrid this summer as a part of its Asian tour, which received heavy media coverage last year, appears to have been called off. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls