Thanyapura in Phuket to Host Chang International Tennis Federation Pro Circuit Women's Event

Asian women's tennis has received a major boost following the announcement that Thanyapura Sports & Leisure Club (TSLC) and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will host the Chang International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro Circuit women's event from 17 March to 1 April 2012, with total prize money of US$ 25,000.

The international tournament is sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, TSLC, ITF and Chang and looks set to become one of the region's key events for the women's pro circuit, given Phuket's heady mix of sun, surf and excitement plus TSLC's world class facilities.

TSLC, which boasts six state-of-the-art covered and floodlit Plexicushion tennis courts - the same surface used at the recent Australian Open - and stadium seating for a crowd of over 600 people just 15 minutes’ drive from Phuket International Airport, is ideally equipped and located to host a tournament of this calibre.

“The Thanyapura vision has always been to create world-class facilities in paradise, believing that if we build it, they will come. Well, now the ITF has come, and I believe this is just the beginning of a relationship that will go from strength to strength,” said Thanyapura Group President, Robert Hauck. “In the future, given our facilities and the allure of Phuket, this could well become one of the biggest tournaments on the women’s calendar. It will have great flow on effects for Phuket as a whole in terms of visitors and sports tourism, and it will also give Thanyapura’s own Tennis Academy a great chance to groom its own stars of the future and introduce them to the big stage.”

The tournament will comprise a main draw of 32 ranked players, with another 32 selected through qualification rounds. Aspiring stars of tomorrow from all over the world have already signed up for the event. Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, who won the union singles title at Wimbledon in 2009, is currently ranked 179th in the world. She is the only Thai to make the 32 main draw places.

Other key players who will take to the Thanyapura courts include world number 138 Erika Sema and world number 144 Kurumi Nara, both from Japan, as well as Peka Luca Jani from Hungary (#155), Julia Cohen from the US (#158), Claire Feverstein of France (#163) and Sarah Gronert of Germany (#175).

This will be Thanyapura’s second step into the world tennis limelight. TSLC also hosted the Chang ITF Thailand Pro Circuit 2011 men’s tennis tournament last October and November, to great acclaim. This, plus the latest awarding of a professional ITF tournament to the TSLC’s Tennis Academy, gives the TSLC’s newly opened, first-class facilities a resounding vote of confidence, building on its position as a leading sports facility in Asia.

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