Asian Tour signs deal with IMG Media

The Asian Tour yesterday strengthened its hand in the turf war with rival OneAsia by joining forces with IMG Media, a division of global sports and media company IMG Worldwide, in a 12-year deal.

The new partnership will lead to the tour adding four more events to next year's schedule, the Asian body's executive chairman, Kyi Hla Han, said.

'This is a milestone,' Han said. 'We remain fully committed to establishing playing opportunities and increasing prize funds for our elite players, and a solid television platform will help the Asian Tour achieve these goals ... [The tour] is committed to staging a minimum of four new tournaments in 2011.'

The partnership follows on from IMG's global representation of the Asian Tour's media rights since January last year, which has resulted in distribution of the tour's television packages to over 40 countries.