City workers win gold on the tennis courts at Save the Children's grand finals
Finalists from London companies such as KPMG, Kelloggs, PwC and Astrazeneca convened at the National Tennis Centre for the Grand Finals of the Save the Children Corporate Tennis Tournament on Saturday 2nd February.
Thursday 7 February 2008
The event which is supported by Barclays was the culmination of months of corporate tennis qualifiers in which mixed-doubles participants battled it out for a place in the Grand Finals. Over 35 companies took part in the Corporate Tennis Tournament this year, including Barclays, Emap, Accenture, IBM, Herbert Smith and Morgan Stanley, representing a particularly diverse range of business sectors. Last weekend the finalists came together at the home of British Tennis, taking part in a series of round-robin group matches before the semis and final. Fiona Halstead and Mark Martin of MDM Consultants beat Hwaida Shah and Paul Cassar of Paddington Sports Club to take the championship after a fiercely fought final set which they won 6-3.
'Wildcard entrants' Baroness Billingham of Banbury and Professor Lord Anthony Giddens added a bit of fun to proceedings with their participation in the group stages. The pair who are members of the Commons and Lords Tennis Club which David Cameron and a host of other top MPs play in (Baroness Billingham chairs the club) battled gamely against the ruthless corporate pairings who were on top form for the finals.
Winner Fiona Halstead of MDM Consultants said, "Both Mark and I had a great time. We really enjoyed the tennis and playing at the LTA centre, all for an excellent cause."
The event is supported by Barclays for three years. Rachael Barber, Head of Barclays Global Community Investment said "Barclays is delighted to be supporting the Save the Children Corporate Tennis Tournament, part of the charity's UK wide tennis initiative which has so far raised around £2m to help children across the world."
This year's tournament raised over £65,000 with money still due. Each player pays an entry fee of £10 and is asked to raise sponsorship money. Large companies often like to match players' sponsorship money, or donate on the players' behalf. "Barclays will match up to £750 raised for each Barclays employee that takes part, to Save the Children," said Barber.
This event is part of the Save the Children nationwide Tennis Tournament in which thousands of adults and juniors take part annually, with qualifying events held across Great Britain. All the money raised goes to Save the Children who are launching a life-saving new campaign which aims to help the 10 million children who die every year from diseases the world knows how to prevent or treat.
Save the Children's next corporate tennis tournament will be open to applications from July. If that's too long to wait for your tennis fix then you can get involved in the adult and junior section of Save the Children's Tennis Tournament by helping to run an event at your company, local club or school. For more information about how to get involved please go to www.savethechildren.org.uk/tennis
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Notes to Editors
For more information please contact Susannah Parker in the Save the Children Press Office on 0207 012 6848 or email s.parker@savethechildren.org.uk
For more information about organising a tennis tournament or finding out about opportunities to play tennis visit www.savethechildren.org.uk/tennis or email tennis@savethechildren.org.uk
