Hsieh eyes switch over sponsor deal
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, July 9, 2013
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Eighth seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Peng Shuai defeated No.12 seeds Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua to win the Wimbledon ladies' doubles title 7-6(1) 6-1. [Xinhua] |
Chinese Taipei's tennis hero Hsieh Su-wei is mulling giving up her citizenship to represent China's mainland, where she could receive a much bigger sponsorship deal her father said yesterday, after her historic win in the Wimbledon women's doubles contest.
Hsieh and her partner Peng Shuai of China beat Australian duo Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua on Saturday.
The hard-won triumph made Hsieh the first Chinese Taipei tennis player ever to grab a grand slam title.
But while the island was basking in her glory, Hsieh's father, Hsieh Tze-lung, took the public by surprise when he said his daughter may give up her citizenship to represent China's mainland in exchange for an annual 10 million yuan (US$1.63 million) sponsorship deal offered by a Chinese brewery.
The deal would dwarf the 27-year-old's current total annual sponsorship income of just US$50,000, a sum paid by two local companies.
In an interview, her father said: "It is not that we don't love Taiwan... we have no choice. "The amount is barely half of the total I need to support the training and related spending of Su-wei as well as her brother and a younger sister," both of whom are teenaged tennis players, her father said.
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