Golf and tennis are in line to receive millions of dollars in funding from the "revamped" Mega Events Fund for each sport's "showpiece tournaments" later this year, a top government official said, according to Alvin Sallay of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. The Hong Kong Opens in both golf and tennis have been "rebuffed by the government-run MEF" in the last few years but it is understood both sports will be "given the nod when the latest round of applications are vetted." A senior government official said, "I know that both sports have asked for significant sums of money for their events and their applications are likely to be successful, especially tennis, which is being regarded very favorably." Tennis officials applied for HK$8M ($1M) in a bid to "lure some of the leading names in professional tennis like Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard." Golf administrators "refused to reveal what they had asked for." The MEF "refused to reveal which sports had applied for funding," but both golf and tennis "confirmed that they had put in applications" (SCMP, 3/31).
