Obi Worldphone announced a key ongoing partnership as the team sponsor of the UAE Royals at the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), the first city-based professional tennis league in the world.The Obi UAE Royals is the Dubai-based IPTL franchise that is co-owned by India’s current test cricket captain Virat Kohli, and leading UAE businessmen Neelesh Bhatnagar and Sachin Gadoya.
The IPTL 2015, which runs from 2 to 20 December, will feature five franchise teams – Philippine Mavericks, Singapore Slammers, Indian Aces, Japan Warriors, UAE Royals – and bring together current tennis champions and upcoming talent to compete against each other in the respective teams’ home countries, for a grand prize of USD1 million and USD500,000 for the runner-up.
World No. 3 and seventeen-time Grand Slam Champion, Roger Federer, is set to headline the UAE Royals team, and will be joined by a formidable team of tennis superstars that include Goran Ivanisevic, Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych, Daniel Nestor, Ana Ivanovic and Kristina Mladenovic. The competing teams will also feature tennis champions such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Sania Mirza.
Obi Worldphone will also be doing a social media contest for its fans, where ten passes will be provided to the winning candidates.
Obi Worldphone confirms that the partnership with the UAE Royals team at the IPTL marks an important milestone in the company’s global strategy to strengthen their brand presence. “The IPTL launched successfully last year, and has become a much-anticipated sporting event the world over. As a title sponsor of the UAE Royals, Obi Worldphone looks forward to leveraging the popularity of tennis as well as the wide viewership that IPTL attracts to promote our identity as a smartphone brand with universal appeal. We are confident that the team will put on an excellent show at the league under the able leadership of the tennis legend, Roger Federer,” says Amit Rupchandani, Managing Director at Obi Worldphone EMEA.
“Obi Worldphone is on a firm growth path currently, with plans to roll-out our latest devices – the Obi Worldphone SF1 and SJ1.5 – in over 70 markets by 2016. We are keen to bolster our expansion plans by supporting global events such as the IPTL, which offers us the perfect platform to initiate our entry in to the sports sponsorship arena and engage with the youth segment through this medium.”
“We are extremely pleased to have Obi Worldphone join us as a title sponsor of the UAE Royals team. The brand is young and vibrant, and has already created a niche for itself in the smartphone sector, making it a strong face to front the UAE Royals campaign at the IPTL 2015,” adds Neelesh Bhatnagar, Co-owner of the UAE Royals and CEO of Emax Electronics.
The IPTL reaches TV audiences in over 125 countries, and differs from the traditional tennis format, with single-set, no-ad scoring to speed up the games. This will enable fans to witness 20 top players competing in one evening in various match-ups consisting of singles, doubles, mixed-doubles and legends sets. Other unique facets of the league include Happiness PowerPoints, Shoot-outs, a running shot clock and exciting in-game live music and entertainment.