By Fadhli Ishak -NST
*NST Sport broke the story on Venus Williams a day earlier.
CARBON Worldwide, the organiser of the WTA Tour BMW Malaysian Open, has confirmed the participation of former World No 1 Venus Williams for the US$220,000 tournament on Feb 27-March 4 at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort.
Keld Kristiansen, chairman of Carbon Worldwide, said getting a player of Venus' calibre was a great boost to the tournament and he was expecting more top players to sign up for the event.
Also confirmed are Marion Bartoli of France, currently ranked World No 9, and also Asian Games gold medallist Peng Shuai from China.
"We are quite fortunate to be able to get Venus as she is currently in a very important stage of her career having just returned from injury and illness," said Kristiansen.
"It is quite unique to get a player committed to a tournament three months ahead of the event and the tournament is one of a number of key events she will be competing in to get herself back on track next year.
"We are still some way from the event itself so there will be more players registering in the coming months and we are confident there will be more quality players as the event has a good reputation among players on the tour.
"We are expecting (defending champion) Jelena Dokic to be back as well as Lucie Safarova who was here last year, but will have to wait for their confirmation."
Venus, a five-time Wimbledon champion, has been plagued with injuries and health issues since she made the semi-finals of the US Open last year.
Her ranking has since plunged to 104. She recently revealed that she had been suffering from Sjogren's syndrome, an illness which can cause fatigue and pain in the joints.
Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, who officiated the launch of the tournament yesterday, urged the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) to organise more programmes to boost the development of the sport in the country.
"We need to create a tennis playing community to help build the sport.
"Any sport needs a large base of players to create champions and this is clearly lacking in tennis," said Ahmad Shabery.
"LTAM could be better at organising programmes to develop the sport.
"It is not necessary to do tournaments that offer large amounts of prize money but organise simple tournaments or tennis leagues to give our players a platform to develop.
"As long as there are good programmes run by the association, the government is ready to offer its support."
Ahmad Shabery expressed disappointment at the lack of tennis fans at the two world class tennis tournaments hosted in Malaysia in recent years -- the BMW Malaysian Open and ATP Malaysian Open.
"It is quite disappointing that we have two world class tennis events in Malaysia yet there are not many people, especially real tennis fans, who come and watch the matches," added Ahmad Shabery.
