Anna Kournikova super late for launch in KL and 'left with no fans'?

This photo was twitpic-ed by Noradzliyana, who asked me if the Showdown of Champions 2009 launch was confirmed this morning.

Anna Kournikova was super late for the launch. She was scheduled to launch the exho event together with the Tourism Minister Dato' Dr. Ng Yen Yen at 10.15AM but only to arrive at 2.30PM.

I guess the Tourism Minister didn't wait for her.

So when Kournikova arrived, she had coffee (or maybe tea) with the officials, gimmick launch without the Tourism Minister and then photo shooting.

Kournikova was supposed to meet the junior players at 3.00PM at National Tennis Centre at Jalan Duta. So I guess the boys and girls had to wait a bit.

Now coming back to Kournikova's picture above... guess what's missing?

Of course the FANS!!! (Check out the tourist in the background.. he rather snap a picture of the building than Kournikova!)

Nobody' f**king knew Kournikova was in Kuala Lumpur because the organisers decided to make it a national top secret.

They should learn from Malaysian GP's organiser.

Be more transparent and announce to the fans so that more people will have the chance to meet tennis celebrities like Kournikova.

Either you keep the tennis celebrities to yourself or boost ticket sales by getting more people involved.

Now here's a better view of Kournikova by Glenn Guan/The Star.

For more info regarding Showdown of Champions 2009, which will be featuring Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie, in December, go to www.showdownkl.com.

Weekend winners: Youzhny, Schiavone, Baghdatis, Bacsinszky

Mikhail Youzhny beat Janko Tipsarevic to win 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-4 at Kremlin Cup to earn his fifth career title and extend Russia’s winning streak at the home event to six straight years.

In the women's final, Italian Francesca Schiavone defeated Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-0 to win her second career title.

Meanwhile in Stockholm, Sweden, Marcos Baghdatis beat Olivier Rochus 6-1, 7-5 for his third career ATP Tour singles title just a week after learning he had gained the event’s main draw.

Baghdatis was playing a Challenger event in Tashkent when he got the news.

At the Luxembourg Open, unseeded Timea Bacsinszky won her first WTA Tour title, beating sixth-seeded Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Great entertainment at The Venetian Macao exhibition

I seldom blog about tennis exhibition (unless it's local) but I thought The Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown deserved a mention.

Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Yuki Bhambri and Ryan Harrison were in Macau, the former Portuguese colony for the weekend to provide some good tennis entertainment.

Aaron Kwok was starstrucked! I can't stand his 'thumbs up' gestures LOL!

I didn't watch the entire show on Astro SuperSport CH816, but managed to spot some famous Hong Kong celebrities including Aaron Kwok (the coin tosser :D), Eason Chan and Sam Lee.

Even Coco Lee was there twittering from the front row seat.

In the highlight of the event, Sampras defeated Agassi in three sets as the two retired American tennis greats revisited as one of the sport’s greatest rivalries.

This is the first time the two had played since Sampras won in the 2002 US Open final for his then-record 14th Grand Slam.

There were other entertainment that evening including a drum solo (bucket beats by a street drummer?) and mime show.

Match Results:
Yuki Bhambri (IND) def. Ryan Harrison (USA) 5-5
Pete Sampras (USA) def. Andre Agassi (USA) 3-6 6-3 10-8
P. Sampras (USA) & Y. Bhambri (IND) def. A. Agassi (USA) & R. Harrison (USA) 7-5

(Images via Reuters, sports.sina.com.cn)

Anna Kournikova to launch Showdown of Champions Kuala Lumpur

It's confirmed! Anna Kournikova will arrive in Kuala Lumpur to launch the yearly tennis exhibition 'Showdown of Champions 2009' this coming Monday.

Unfortunately, the organisers decided to keep Kournikova for themselves.

No invitation was given to HCFoo's Tennis Blog and sadly there's also no meet-the-fans session although they knew a lot of local fans would die to meet the tennis babe.

However, thanks to my involvement in politics years ago, I managed to sneak in and get some info regarding the launching by the Tourism Minister Dato' Dr. Ng Yen Yen and Kournikova.

WHO: Anna Kournikova
WHAT: Showdown of Champion 2009 Launch
WHEN: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 (10.15 AM)
WHERE: Café Stelle (2nd floor) Couture Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Hope you can catch a glimpse of Kournikova!

To junior players, please contact your coach or Selvarajoo as Kournikova will be meeting you guys at the National Tennis Centre at 3 PM on the same day.

Do prepare some questions for her. Kournikova is very generous in answering questions especially from fans (as you can see from her website)

(Image via Anna Kournikova official website)