Sania-Zheng to represent Asia at the Showdown of Champions, Malaysia
[Tue Oct 27, 2009]It will be third edition of its kind the Malaysians have arranged which is called as the Showdown of Champions. At the event you will see clash between Asians and Russians. Sania Mirza from India and Zheng Jie of China will represent the Asian team; while world no 5 Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko from Russia will represent the Russian team.
The event is a plan of Malaysian tourism ministry to promote Malaysia among sport enthusiasts. First such event arranged in 2007 seen World No. 1 Roger Fedrer and the veteran Pete Sampras in an event titled 'Clash of Times'. However the Spaniard Rafael Nadal take on to French player Richard Gasquet in an event named 'Clash of Titans' the same year. However last year the Malaysians witnessed four tennis champions - Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Federer and James Blake.
This time they planed to bring up the top players from WTA tour. Talking about the four players, Dementieva won gold medal last year at Beijing Olympic 2008, while her compatriot Kirilenko who is ranked 61st in world currently is one of the beautiful faces in tennis circuit. However the Indian Sania Mirza is the most recognized sport person in India, while the other Asian Zheng Jie become the first Chinese player to reach the singles semifinals of a Grand Slam- Wimbledon last year.
To add glamour to the event, the glamorous former Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova will be part of the event as a brand ambassador. It's a two day event to be held on Dec 19 and 20. Kournikova, a former world junior champion quit tennis in 2003 because of injuries. Talking about the event she said, "I'm sure people from China will root for Zheng Jie and India will follow Sania's performance. I will be rooting for Elena and Maria."
"I'm really excited to be part of the Showdown of Champions 2009. I think it will benefit Malaysia, and Malaysians are fortunate to be able to witness such an event," she added.
