Lapu-Lapu City to host another Davis Cup tilt

The RP Davis Cup Team’s bitter 0-3 loss to New Zealand last month in the Asia Oceania Zone Group 1 tie is turning out to be a blessing in disguise as it gave the country the chance to host another international tournament  at the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.

The event comes barely seven months after the country hosted the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I Tie RP vs. Japan last March also at the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa.

The RP Davis Cup Team will face Chinese Taipei in a knockout tie for the right to remain in the Asia Oceania Zone Group 1 from Sept. 16 to 18.

This was announced during a press conference yesterday at the Lapu-Lapu City Hall.

Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Harry Radaza said his city’s historic hosting of the Davis Cup last March impressed the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) that it decided to once again offer Lapu-Lapu the hosting chores.

“Despite having doubts of hosting an international event again in the same year, we instead saw it as an opportunity to further our sports tourism thrust,” Radaza said.

Philippine Davis Cup administrator Randy Villanueva said this is the first time that the Philippines gets to host a Davis Cup tournament twice in a year.

“We play a minimum of two and a maximum of three Davis Cup tournaments in a year so we are very blessed to be playing at homecourt for the second time,” Villanueva said.

He added that the short span of time in between hosting has become an advantage for Lapu-Lapu because it is now ready for the event.

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said this is another great honor for the city and its thrust for sports tourism.

PROPOSED CHANGES

To encourage more people to watch the event, organizers  lowered the ticket prices from last March’s P500 per day to P200 per day free seating. If the spectator  buys tickets for three days, instead of paying P600, he will only pay P500.

Season tickets and VIP passes will also be on offer. However, prices are still being determined.

Another thing that the organizing committee will look into is the deployment of transportation that would bring spectators from a main assembly area in the city to Plantation Bay.

Villanueva said that Philta, Lapu-Lapu and Plantation are in initial talks of ferrying spectators from the city to Plantation Bay.

Organizers also plan to put diffusers around the court to minimize the heat. As for the TV coverage, Villanueva said the rights would most likely go to TV5 again and they are in negotiation to show the matches on the same day they are played.

They are also planning to negotiate with Smart on  live streaming the event.

Other cities that offered to host the event were Davao, Lucena, Cebu and even Lanao.