By IANS
Doha : The 2008 Asian Cup, the continent’s premier tennis event for men, will be staged at the Khalifa Tennis Complex here in November, a top official of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) has announced.
The top eight players of the continent, including one player from each of the five zones in Asia, would contest the tournament, ATF secretary Anil Khanna said while announcing the event.
“Thanks to the initiative taken by Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF), we have managed to increase the overall prize money to $300,000 for this year’s edition. The prize money at our previous edition of Asia Cup was $100,000,” Khanna said.
“We are extremely grateful to QTF for willing to host our top event with a substantial increase in prize money. QTF will also host a batch of 32 under-14 players from across the region to witness the WTA Tour’s season-ending championship in November. This is being done to help youngsters learn by watching the world’s best players in action.”
Khanna also added that ATF was keen to help young kids in Asia maintain their interest in tennis. He said ATF’s chief focus is to help kids make a decent living from the sport.
“That’s what we want to do. The ATF feels this is right time to help tennis grow in Asia. We want to do that by increasing prize money so that players can look at incentives to do well at our tournaments,” said Khanna, who is also the secretary of All India Tennis Association.
He said no other country, including India, was in contention to host the tournament.