Now, LG to sponsor golf tourfor 3 years

NEW DELHI: After deciding not to renew global cricket sponsorship contract with International Cricket Council(ICC), consumer durable major LG Electronics India on Monday announced its association with golf.

It will sponsor Indian Golf Union’s National Amateur Tour for the next three years. This sports sponsorship deal in India comes simultaneously with LG Electronics’ soccer sponsorship deal in the UK with English Premier League club, Fulham.

LG Electronics’ head of marketing Sandeep Tiwari said, “We are not renewing ICC sponsorship contract but this is certainly no replacement for cricket. We want to associate with four such niche events to target specific consumer segments and golf is one of the properties. We haven’t finalised the rest of the events. They could be a mix of sporting and non-sporting events to target specific segments, including women.”

Mr Tiwari chose not to divulge the sponsorship amount which runs into crores. It is, however, a modest sum compared to the multi-million dollar deal for ICC sponsorship. The LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour will touch 11 cities comprising 13 events. The opening event of the 13-leg tour tees off with the Eagleton Amateur in Bangalore from June 12.

The tour will showcase the 2006 Asian Games silver medalists Anirban Lahiri, Joseph Chakola apart from British Open 2006 (Junior) winner Amanjyot Singh among others. Tiger Sports Marketing will be managing the tour while Times of India has come on board as the Associate Sponsor.