Sports News | Maharashtra Will Never Allow This ATP Tournament Go Anywhere: Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. The chances of India retaining its only ATP 250 tournament enhanced on Thursday with the Maharashtra government pledging its support to the premier tennis tournament for five more years.
Pune, Jan 5 (PTI) The chances of India retaining its only ATP 250 tournament enhanced on Thursday with the Maharashtra government pledging its support to the premier tennis tournament for five more years.
South Asia's only ATP 250 event, owned by IMG, came to Pune in 2018 and became the Tata Open Maharashtra from Chennai Open.
The state government had committed to provide support for half a decade at that time and on Thursday it extended the support for a further five-year period.
"Maharastra will never allow this ATP 250 go anywhere, other than Maharashtra," Devendra Fadnavis said at the Balewadi stadium on the fourth day of the competition.
A request was made that from the next year onwards India should host ATP 500 event, in which the more higher-ranked players compete, to which Fadnavis smiled.
The cost to host the ATP 250 tournament is no less than Rs 15 crore and the state government contributes a major chunk.
It remains to be seen if auto major Tata Motors, the title sponsors of the USD 713,495 event, continue to support the tennis tournament.
The officials of the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) are not yet sure if the arrangement will continue or not.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)