THE second edition of the Arenel Wimbledon Harare Junior Tennis Open serves off this morning at Harare Sports Club and St George’s College with a huge field of over 200 budding tennis players battling for honours in one of the top events on the local junior tennis calendar.
BY SPORTS REPORTER
The four-day tournament which was launched yesterday will see junior players fight it out for honours in the Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, the Under-16 and Under-18 age-groups.
Arenel, through their brand of Wimbledon biscuits will sponsor this year’s tournament after signing a five-year sponsorship deal with the Harare Metropolitan Tennis Board last year.
The local biscuit and sweet manufacturer reaffirmed their commitment to junior tennis at a media briefing held at in the capital yesterday ahead of the start of the tournament today.
Arenel marketing director, Tendaishe Taruvinga said although he could not reveal the value of the sponsorship package they had reviewed it upwards.
The initial sponsorship package was estimated to be around $10 000. “The 2015 edition of the Arenel Wimbledon Harare Junior Tennis Open is promising to be much bigger than last year. We have slightly taken the figure up from last year which unfortunately we are again are not at liberty to disclose,” said Taruvinga.
“As Arenel we have taken up the challenge to empower the youth more than anything else so any child-related development programmes we will not hesitate to chip in and plough back into the community which is the main reason why we are have been involved in junior rugby and are also the main sponsors of the Nash 17 football competition,” he said.
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Harare Metropolitan Tennis Board vice-chairperson, Collin Mahere said: “We are grateful to Arenel for their continued support to junior tennis in Zimbabwe. Last year they came in at very short notice and we signed a five-year agreement for them to sponsor the tournament.
“This year the sponsorship has increased slightly from the amount they gave us last year and they have assured us that they will continue to meet our needs.
Mahere said Arenel had also committed to individual players who would have excelled during the tournament. “They (Arenel) have also indicated that they will look into the individuals who do well in this tournament and look at their specific needs in terms of sponsorship and I think that would help a lot.
