WITH the 30th Southeast Asian Games just a little under five months away, the Philippine national ice hockey and tennis teams got a shot in the arm with cybersecurity company Kaspersky pledging support for their respective campaigns in the biennial sporting meet which the country is hosting this year.
In a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony held on July 11 at the Makati Diamond Residences, Kaspersky pledged financial support for the country’s ice hockey and tennis teams amounting to P3 million as they gear up for the Games happening from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
The pledge is for the Federation of Ice Hockey League and the Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) and with the money coming from the projected P3 million worth of proceeds from the sale of Kaspersky Internet Security 2019 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2019 beginning from July to November this year. It will be turned over to the two groups by the end of the project period, which falls on December.
The financial support was made possible through the initiative of iSecure Networks, Inc., one of Kaspersky’s distributors in the country.
Having already dipped its hands in various sports sponsorships in the past, Kaspersky said it was not a hard sell for the company to throw its support for the Philippine ice hockey and tennis teams, more so since it could relate to the go-getting mindset and desire to make the country proud of the two associations.
“We’re very delighted to support these teams which we believe are powerful contenders in their respective tournaments within the 2019 SEA Games. Kaspersky has always been an avid benefactor of achievers in the sports arena who exemplify the same values that we’re also dedicated to — passion for elite performance and tenacity to attain success with speed and high level of strategic thinking,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Kaspersky Southeast Asia.
The Philippine national ice hockey team won the gold in the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia while the tennis team bagged two silver and two bronze medals.
“This pledge of support only brings positive stuff for the team. We are very thankful to have them as one of our sponsors and backing us up. From our end what we can promise them is quality performance to make them proud for supporting us so that they would continue to support us and attract more supporters. We are an expensive sport as we all know so we can use all the support we could get,” said Francois Gautier, executive vice-president of Hockey Philippines, when asked by BusinessWorld at the MoU signing for his thoughts on Kaspersky coming on board to support them.
The same goes for PHILTA, which was very appreciative of the support and shared that Kaspersky’s financial sponsorship will go to the players’ training for the SEA Games both here and abroad.
PHILTA was represented at the MoU signing by association vice-president Martin Misa.
Also present were Anne Manalo, chief financial officer iSecure, and national athletes Steven Fuglister and LR Lancero (ice hockey) and Marian Jade Capadocia (tennis). — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
