| MUMBAI:
Sports marketing firm IEC has been appointed by Colin Stubs Enterprises to handle
worldwide television distribution for the AAMI Classic for 2008 and 2009.
The tennis event
is held each year the week before the Australian Open at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis
Club in Melbourne. The 2008 tournament is taking place from 9-12 January.
The
AAMI Classic will be staging its 20th edition next year. The tournament has had
the likes of Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic participate
in the past. In
2008, defending champion Andy Roddick of the USA is confirmed to return to defend
his title against Swiss world number 1 Roger Federer. They will face other major
stars including 2007 Australian Open Runner-Up Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, Ivan
Ljubicic from Croatia, David Nalbandian of Argentina, Russian Marat Safin the
2004 Australian Open Champion, Andy Murray Great Britain, plus two other top ranked
players.
The
tournament director Colin Stubs says, “In 2007 the tournament had its best
ever distribution thanks to IEC in Sports with live coverage broadcast to a dozen
networks across Asia, Europe and South America. We are pleased to continue working
with IEC for a further two year period”. EC
in Sports CEO Jonas Persson says, "The AAMI Classic always features the top
favorites for the first Grand Slam of the Year as it is the crown jewel event
of The Road to Australian Open Series. The AAMI Classic is a very important property
for our broadcast partners in the region due to the excellent live timings in
Asia. Additionally due to the exceptional player field and its storied history,
the event is also widely distributed in Europe and South America despite the big
time differences to these regions, which is a great credit to the high quality
of this tournament.” IEC
in Sports distributes over 30 men’s tennis events per year including several
other tournaments in the Asia Pacific. They include the AIG Open in Tokyo, ATP
China Open, ATP Thailand Open, ATP Heineken Open in Auckland and ATP Adelaide. | 
