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SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier, has concluded a historic sponsorship deal with the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.

This is the first deal, the airline has signed with a national sports body, for Rs. 1 million worth of travel which will be made available to the SLTA for overseas competitions over the coming 12 months. The journeys however, will be restricted to only the destinations the national carrier flies to.

The SLTA in return will sport the airline's motif on the players' shirts, designate SriLankan Airlines as official carrier and allow advertising boards at SLTA's premises at Green Path.

"This is the first time in the history of SriLankan Airlines have signed a sponsorship contract directly with a national sports body. As a matter of policy we've supported sports for a long time, but not on a long-term basis like this.

This contract is initially for a year and we would like to continue to do our bit to improve Sri Lanka's standing in international tennis and hope to renew the contract next August," said Ms Hyacinth Silva, Promotions Executive, Events, SriLankan Airlines. While welcoming SriLankan Airline's decision to aid Sri Lanka tennis, Suresh Subramaniam, SLTA president said: "This will be an added incentive to our junior players as they can compete in more overseas tournaments and gain valuable experience.

It offers us confidence that one of the biggest companies is associating with us at a time when our junior players are flowering."

A fortnight ago 14-year-old Franlyn Emmanuel, of Royal College, became the youngest ever player in the 87-year history of the National Championships to win the Men's Singles title.

Two other big-time sponsors helping local tennis is People's Bank (the SLTA junior program) and Pepsi, the Mirinda mini tennis program.

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