By IANS
New Delhi : Now Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship winners will take home tennis balls studded with 4,624 diamonds, each worth nearly Rs.5 million. The spectacular souvenirs have been created by the Gitanjali Group in association with Hong Kong based DIGICO group.
"The diamond studded ball will be given this year to the winners of the Wimbledon women's singles and men's singles championship," Manjunath Jyotinagar, president of Gitanjali Gems told IANS.
"It is an honour to be a part of the world's most historical, yet contemporary and universally admired grand slam event," said Jyotinagar.
The company has also created a new sports collection called Sporterati, which has bracelets and pendants specially crafted for the championship.
The premium jewellery is created in gold with diamonds set in black and transparent polymer. The collection will be available in all Gitanjali stores at a starting price of Rs.5,000.
The main aim of the company is to tap the sports crazy youth market and earn global recognition through this step.
"India's jewellery market is as big as $11 billion and is swelling at a fast rate of 15-18 percent per year. The youth are the target customers as youngsters of 15-25 age group watch Wimbledon and sports jewellery is one of the hottest trend today.
"This will also earn global renown for Gitanjali and position it as one of the India's finest jewellery brand," Jyotinagar added.
As the collection offers stylised figures and graphics with playful forms that give it a very contemporary look, the company expects the line to be a hit amongst sports loving youngsters.
"Today the youth have chosen sport stars as their new role models. Who can ignore the influence of sports stars on the minds and lives of youngsters, from chains to wrist wear, people like to flaunt their favourite sport and its spirit?" said Gaurav Marya, the managing director of Gitanjali Lifestyle.