May 30, 2008 Bangalore, Karnataka, India
When technology meets technology, it creates the TECH OPEN. Samsung Mobile celebrated its launch of its latest business phone the SGH – i780 with the tech-savvy golfing fraternity of Bangalore.

The TECH OPEN was created to bring together golf aficionados from the IT world, and invite non-IT golfers in a clash of the Titans.

Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Samsung Telecommunications India, who also played the tournament, was delighted with the opportunity to launch the Samsung business phone, the i780 at this event. ” The i780 is a delight for business users and our tech-savvy consumers on account of its business applications, ease of use and stunning form factor. The Tech Open has given us a strong launch platform for the i780 given the profile of participants at this tournament .”

The tournament attracted top-notch golfers from the technology world, and the course had IT professionals from Cognizant, Wipro, IBM, Network Solutions, Mistral, Fidelity etc.

The TECH OPEN, conceptualized and marketed by Creatigies Communications, was implemented and managed by Tiger Sports. Innovative and ” fun” aspects like adding handicaps and strokes by incorporating aspects of cricket and hockey with golf, all made the event more exciting a great success.

Brandon D’Souza, MD Tiger Sports was the Tournament Director and managed the event with his regular flair. “I am happy that Tiger Sports is managing The TECH Open and when this concept was shared by Creatigies, we believed that this could be the beginning of something that has an ‘annual’ event value”

“Having an idea might be the easy bit, but having a brand like Samsung Mobile back it and support it makes the real difference” said Navroze Dhondy, CEO, Creatigies Communications. “Creatigies has always been keen to get the top-notch IT head honchos to get together for a day of Golf, and what better than dedicate a tourney and call it the Tech Open. To have Samsung Mobile get their latest and most technologically advanced i780 to get a private viewing at such a gathering is of course the icing on the cake”

Hyundai Sonata, the luxury car was parked at the 18th, waiting for someone to come along and win it with a hole–in–one. Some of the golfers got pretty close to driving away with the Sonata, perched happily on the green.

Kingfisher Lager, Kingfisher Bohemia Wines, and Ballantines made sure that all the golfers ended their day in high spirits.
With “booze –n- brains” being conducted by Mark Rego, the audience was engrossed and enthralled, some getting such high scores in the ” fun-quiz” that another round of prizes for the winners was dished out by Sirxion.

The TECH Open golfers were attired in smart blue and white golf tees
especially created for the event by Greg Norman.

The winners went back with prizes and trophies. The list is given below:

Winning Team (Team of 3)
David Wicks, MD CEO Networks Solutions
Andy Stafford,
Raghu Varma, MD Shade Group of Companies.

Runner Up Team (Team of 3)
CS Srinivasan, CS Consultants
Teertha Prasad, TK Developers
Chetan Meda, Director, Eagleton Golf Resort.
CAT : Handicap 21 & Above
Winner: Ashok Kumar, MD Eagleton Golf Resort
Samsung I 780 Phone + Trophy

Runner Up : Murali
CAT : Handicap 17 – 21
Winner : Ram Nivas Boob, Boob Casting Samsung I 780 Phone + Trophy
Runner Up : Shane O’Neill, VP Fidelity
CAT: Handicap 0 – 16
Winner :Sujith Somasundar, Wipro, Former Indian Team Cricket player Samsung Phone + Trophy
Runner Up :Raj Krishna, Sai Lakshmi Constructions.
Overall Runner Up
Winner: Anees Ahmad , CEO Mistral Software Rescue Club + Trophy
Overall Winner:
Winner: Nanda Kishore , Wipro
Samsung I 780 Phone + Troph

September 30th, 2005 New Delhi, India
We all know the World Cup is won by the team that has the best all-round game – the team that can turn a match with the stolen single or the saved boundary. And we all marvel at the fielding of Kaif or Younis, the strength of Powell or Klusener, the guile of a Prince or Sangakkara, the accuracy of a Dravid or Pollock.

Who’s the world’s most accurate bowler?
Which batsman hits the ball the furthest?
Who’s the best fielder?
Who’s the fastest runner between the wickets?
Who places the ball most precisely?

Samsung Superskills finally answers these questions in a series of programme
that pitch the world’s finest cricketers fight out for individual and team supremacy.

At a press conference held at Hotel Vasant Continental, New Delhi, Mr. Ravinder Zutshi, Deputy Managing Director, Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd., said ” Samsung has always been at the forefront of innovation. The unique and innovative format of this Programme as well as its rich content are the compelling reasons for our association with this Programme. And we are confident that Samsung Superskills, will be able to build on its last year’ success and will generate a huge interest amongst the growing number of cricket lovers in the country.”

Samsung Superskills, a unique cricket skills world tournament telecast over 13 weekly episodes on Star Sports starting 4th
October, 2005 at 2030 every Tuesday.

Sanjay Kailash, Vice President – Ad Sales & Business Development, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. said, “We provide wholesome sports entertainment viewers by showcasing various live and non-live programming on our two channels. Samsung Super Skills will add to our existing bouquet of interesting and innovative non-live programmes. With some of the biggest cricket stars participating in the contest, the programme is well poised to make interesting and engaging television-viewing for millions of ESPN STAR Sports viewers who catch the excitement each week primetime“.

The tournament will see the players of the caliber of Younis Khan, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Rahul David, Mohd. Kaif, Ricardo Powell, Salman Butt and many more facing each other head-to-head in team and individual competition.

The Format
Samsung Superskills 2005 brings to the viewers a more exciting format. This year number of teams have been from 6 to 5 and from 4 players per team to 3. As compared to last year, the episodes have been cut in a match format i.e. Episode 1 sees India v/s South Africa, episode 2 again has one team playing the other. This was done to make the format interesting from the viewer’s perspective and have a winner at the end of every episode.

There would be 5 teams battling to be the Champion at Samsung Superskills winning not the just the title but also an
International holiday by Qatar Airlines.

The 5 Teams are:
India
Pakistan
South Africa
Sri Lanka
West Indies

As Bob Woolmer one of the persons behind the creation of this concept said: “Every skill is as challenging and interesting as the other one which will test the skills of some of the best players in every sphere of a cricket It was not easy planning and conceptualizing something as innovative and unique as Samsung Superskills”.

“With vagaries of pitch, weather, opposition, there is no truly international benchmark that provides players the opportunity to perform on a level playing field, and we hope Samsung Superskills as last year, has once again given a platform where the best of the best prove their mettle” says Navroze Dhondy, Quintus India.

According to Mr. Zutshi , “Viewers can be assured of an hard fought battle by the best in the world in an exciting and innovative world cricket tournament. We expect Samsung Superskills to enthrall viewers.“

” The programme has received tremendous support from associates on the ground as well as in the media. “We are delighted that a number top brands have associated with the Event. The co-sponsors of the programme are ICI and Oriental Bank of Commerce. The Official health drink is Boost and the official airline Qatar Airways. Luminous, Hutch, Jaypee Hotels, Exchange4Media, Hindustan Times & BDM have all contributed to making Samsung Superskills an even bigger event and TV Programme this year.” Said Navroze Dhondy

‘With lot of cricket happening around the world, we thought why cant we have a different platform for the cricket lovers and came out with an idea of Super skills which became a big hit in India and other cricket playing countries supported by Samsung. Last month I was talking to few Australians in Sri Lanka during Triangular series and they said that they had a good time watching Samsung Superskills.” says Hansvir Singh, Quintus India.

Programme promotion:
The programme is further bolstered by an interactive quiz that is actively promoted on air, in the Hindustan Times as well by SMS on Hutch, allowing readers and viewers to win a wide range of prizes every week.

Schedule:
Starts October 4th 2005, 8.30 pm on Star Sports. Followed every Tuesday 8.30 pm.
Each programme repeated on both channels ESPN and Star Sports.

About Samsung India
Samsung India is the Regional Head quarters for Samsung operations in South West Asia, and is a leading provider of high tech information technology, telecom, consumer electronics and home appliance products in the country. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, the parent Company of Samsung India is the global leader in semi conductors, telecommunications, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2004 parent company sales of USD 55.2 billion and net income of USD 10.3 billion.