Rafael Nadal (centre) with officials of Kia Motors Corporation.
Kia Motors Corporation (KMC) has supplied a fleet of 120 Kia vehicles for the Australian Open 2019, making this the 18th consecutive year that KMC has sponsored the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam, said a statement.
Presided over by officials from KMC and brand ambassador, Rafael Nadal, winner of 17 Grand Slam titles, the vehicle handover ceremony took place at Federation Square, Melbourne.
The fleet, consisting of 120 vehicles was presented by Rafael Nadal to officials from the Australian Open, and will be used to transport players, match officials, VIPs and other dignitaries throughout the two-week long tournament, which ends on January 27, 2019.
“It has been Kia’s honour for almost two decades to be a proud sponsor of one of the world’s greatest sporting events, and that commitment has not wavered.
We now look forward with anticipation to the next two weeks of competition and believe that this year will be the best event ever,” said James Cho, President of Kia Motors Australia.
“Kia has always been much more than just a sponsor of the Australian Open, they are a highly valued member of our tennis family and have helped us build the extraordinary growth of the tournament during this time.
The Kia fleets ferrying the players around Melbourne during January, and the tremendous activations for fans onsite at Melbourne Park, have become synonymous with the tournament and an important part of the AO experience for our players,” said Craig Tilley, Tournament Director of the Australian Open.
Kia has rolled out various on- and off-line programmes for tennis fans to mark the 18th anniversary of their long-standing involvement in the Australian Open, one of which is the ‘AO Selfie Contest’, which gives tennis fans the opportunity to share their favourite tournament moments on social media.
A similar contest held in Qatar, dubbed locally as the ‘AO 2019 Carfie Contest’, was won by resident couple, Paul and Ruth Sanderson, who was flown to Australia to witness the tournament in person and also participate in an exclusive tennis clinic with professionals and receive tickets to watch the men’s singles semi-final matches.
