The first WTA tournament to be held in the City in April this year will be sponsored by BNP Paribas Bank and now it is officially called BNP Paribas Katowice Open. Both the sponsor and the City Hall as well as an organizer of the event, SOS Music, signed today a sponsorship agreement.
The agreement will last four years (2013-2016). The event will bring together 64 female players, who will compete for USD 235 000 in prize money. It will be held between 8th and 14th of April 2013 in the “Spodek” sport and exhibition hall. The Katowice Open replaced a tournament, which has been taking place in Copenhagen for the last three years.
„In Katowice we have a branch office and a business center, and now we adds BNP Paribas Katowice Open as another positive step forward to our engagement in the region. We hope to contribute our efforts together with the City Hall to popularize the sport not only in the Upper Silesia but also across whole Poland. Katowice is very well located and we also expect to attract tennis fans from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany. We are convinced the tournament will be a huge success” – commented Frédéric Amoudru, BNP Paribas Country Head in Poland.
Since 1973, the relationship between BNP Paribas and tennis has grown increasingly strong. The BNP Paribas Group is now the leading partner of the sport worldwide, sponsoring about 550 tournaments a year, both professional and amateur. The Group also finances educational and social events linked to tennis, thus combining a passion for the game with social commitment.