The revamped KIA Tennis Park, formerly known as CSKA, officially opened in Almaty on October 16. The large-scale modernization and rebranding of the sports facility resulted from cooperation between the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation and Kazakh automotive company Allur, which represents the KIA brand, infohub.kz reports.
The project placed particular emphasis on developing children's tennis and creating comfortable training conditions. The tennis center has a long history: the CSKA sports base began operating in Almaty back in 1970 and for decades remained one of the key venues for the development of tennis in the city.
One of the main events of the occasion was a master class for young Almaty trainees given by professional tennis players — France's Adrian Mannarino and Kazakh athletes Beibit Zhukayev, Timofey Skatov and Mikhail Kukushkin. The players demonstrated their skills on court and shared their experience with those taking part.
Separate training sessions, master classes and games were organized for young visitors.
Dias Doskarayev, Vice-President of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, stressed the importance of cooperation with business in developing sports infrastructure and supporting children's tennis.
"On behalf of the leadership of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation and the entire tennis community, we express our gratitude to Allur for supporting this project and contributing to the development of children's tennis. A large number of children train at this center, and it is fundamentally important for us to create quality and comfortable conditions for them. The renovation of KIA Tennis Park is the result of joint work by the Federation and our partners. Bulat Zhamitovich personally took part in developing the modernization concept, paying attention to the design, sketches and every detail of the updated center. We are confident that this cooperation will become another important step in the development of tennis in Kazakhstan," Doskarayev said.
The partnership with Allur KIA continued the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation's work to develop sports infrastructure and make tennis more accessible.