According to an official press note, the Chief Minister handed over the cheque for Rs two crore to the Tamilndu Tennis Association president M A Alagappan for the 2013 ATP Tour Chennai Open tennis championships to be held here from 31 December to 6 January, 2013.

The Chief Minister handed over the cheque for the sum to Alagappan, as part of the State government's contribution since 2005 for the successful

conduct of the event when the latter met her at the Secretariat here yesterday, the press release said.

She also wished that the TNTA conduct the tournament successfully.

The Tamilnadu government, it may be recalled, had increased its contribution this year to Rs 2 crore from the Rs one crore being given earlier following a request from the TNTA.

Telecommunication service provider Aircel has been the title sponsor for this event.

Chennai Open is the only ATP tour tennis championship  allotted to South Asia 17 years ago.

The field for the forthcoming edition includes some of the world's best tennis players like Tomas Berdych, Janko Tipsarevic Marin Cilic and former Olympic doubles gold medalist Stan Wawrinka, besides Indian stars Somdev Devvarman, Grand Slam doubles winners Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, for the 2013 edition, was announced here recently by the event managers Reliance IMG.

It may be noted that the AIADMK government led by Jayalalithaa after assuming office in 2011, has been taking every effort to promote sports and in fact has taken up the mantle of hosting the Asian Athletic Championship in the year 2013 in Chennai apart from ensuring that stadiums are opened in various parts of the State to provide the best infrastructure facilities.

Also, the government has initiated steps to integrate sports into the school curriculum and also organised events at the grass-root level to spot new talent.