The South African Tennis Association (SATA) and SAA have announced that the city of East London (Buffalo City) in the Eastern Cape will be host to the upcoming South African Airways (SAA) Tennis Open scheduled for February 2008 tournament at the Selborne Park Tennis Stadium.
SAA has teamed up with Buffalo City and the Eastern Cape Provincial Government to host the event when it takes place from 12 to 17 February 2008. "Bringing the SAA Tennis Open to Buffalo City is our contribution towards the vast strides which have been made thus far in developing the city, uplifting its community and this part of the province.
"We are moved by the commitment to build Buffalo City as a preferred destination for sports tourism. I understand the city has hosted a number of key sports events over the last few years and I hope the SAA Tennis Open will benefit the city’s sports vision,” says Ngqula.
SAA and SATA are currently in discussions to negotiate the possibility of keeping the SAA Tennis Open in East London over the coming years. Buffalo City itself is fast becoming an economic hub with great investment potential.
"We commend the Honourable Executive Mayor Zintle Peter and her team on their active drive to improve Buffalo City through initiatives and a commitment to upgrading infrastructure and facilities. This, combined with Buffalo City boasting one of the most beautiful coast lines in the country, will certainly attract further growth in the future," Ngqula said.
It will be the first time East London has hosted the SAA Tennis Open since the tournament’s inception in January this year when the country’s tennis champs took to the Westridge Park Tennis Stadium in Mayville, Durban.
SAA became the official sponsor of the Open, last held in 1995, after signing a three-year deal with the South African Tennis Association (SATA) last year. "We are thankful that SAA has teamed up with us to improve the standards of tennis in South Africa and that this is already beginning to show results," says Ian Smith, SATA CEO.
The game of tennis in South Africa has in the past not received its rightful recognition. The SAA and SATA partnership aims to change this. SAA’s support of tennis began in early 2006 when the airline announced its involvement with the world-renowned ATP Tour.
Through its participation, SAA hopes to encourage interest in tennis and develop future stars of the game as well as assist in growing revenue by carrying supporters and family to the games.
"South Africa is known throughout the world as being part of the sporting elite. I am counting on the country’s bright talent to be featured amongst the top tennis seeds in the world within the next ten years. The SAA Open is the starting point for this," says Ngqula.
As part of SAA’s current deep and fundamental restructuring with the objective of returning the airline to profitability, SAA has made significant savings in retaining only five major sponsorship titles, which run for a maximum of three years. These include the SAA Tennis Open and the ATP. The others are the SAA Open Golf tournament, Official Carrier of SA Cricket and Official Carrier of Bafana Bafana.
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