ESS to Premiere International Futsal Tournament

KUALA LUMPUR, November 28:
ESPN STAR Sports will organize the international
futsal tournament, the KL World 5’s, which will be held in Malaysia in early
2008 and broadcast on the network to more than 310 million viewers across Asia.

The KL World
5’s, a collaboration between ESPN STAR Sports and the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Malaysia, will be
held at Stadium Negara in Malaysia from January 29 to February 3, 2008. The
tournament will have a total purse of $150,000 and
will feature 10 teams from around the world, including Brazil, Argentina,
Holland, England, Iran, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and hosts
Malaysia.

ESPN STAR
Sports will feature 100 hours of coverage
of the tournament, comprising 30 telecast hours, including 20 hours of live
programming. The KL World 5’s stem from a multiyear
strategic alliance signed between the broadcaster and
Malaysia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports in October 2005 that aims to
raise participation and interest in sport in Malaysia. This includes the staging
of the last KL World 5’s futsal tournament in 2003; the Asian X Games in Kuala
Lumpur from 2002 to 2004 and 2006; the broadcast of the new Malaysian edition of
SportsCenter in April; and the Guinness 9 Ball Tour in Genting Highlands in
June this year.

Manu Sawhney,
the managing director of ESPN STAR Sports, commented: “The KL World 5’s is the result of collaborative
effort between ESPN STAR Sports and the Ministry of Youth and Sports to bring
the best of the international sporting events to Malaysia. We share the Ministry of Youth and Sport’s vision
and ambition to build a strong, long-term and active sporting culture in
Malaysia and we are committed to work with the vision of developing premier
sports events here.”

—By
Irene Lew