Sportingbet, the first British based company to offer a tax-free Internet betting service has announced that it is to sponsor the English Open Table Tennis Championships 2001.

The Sportingbet.co.uk English Open Championships is to be held at Buckmore Park, Chatham, Kent, and begins on 6th February 2001. Over 300 players from 38 different countries will be competing for a total prize fund of £65,000.

The Sportingbet.co.uk English Open is not only the first and one of the biggest ITTF Pro-Tour events of 2001, but also the biggest international table tennis event in Britain.

The event is to be televised by Sky Sports and with participants ranging from Europe, Asia, North America and Africa, is guaranteed a huge audience.

Sportingbet’s title sponsorship of the 64th English Open follows its successful short sponsorship of the recent Embassy World Professional Darts Championship where it was also the exclusive online bookmaker.

Peter Higgins, Business Development Director of Sportingbet, said:

‘Sportingbet is delighted to be the sponsor of the 64th English Open Table Tennis Open. The sport is hugely popular across the world and this event will be televised to a number of international countries, particularly in Asia, a key market for Sportingbet. As a global brand with 55,000 customers from over 100 different countries, a link with table tennis makes perfect sense.’

The ETTA Chairman, Alan Ransome, said:

‘This sponsorship is a real winner. It gives Sportingbet extensive worldwide coverage through television, Internet and the print media. It helps us to provide the players with the biggest prize fund ever given for table tennis in the UK, as well as staging our top event since the last World Championships.’

For further information contact:

Ken Muhr,
ETTA Information Officer
Tel: 01424 722525
Fax: 01424 422103.