19 September 2025
Support for Tennis from İş Bankası
İş Bankası has become the sponsor of the “Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Team Championship,” organized by the Turkish Tennis Federation, to be held from October 1–5, 2025, at the Gaziantep Mehmet Şimşek Tennis Complex.
Through its collaboration with the
Turkish Tennis Federation (TTF), İş Bankası has undertaken the sponsorship of
the “Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Team Championship.” The event is held
with the goals of popularizing tennis, providing equal opportunities for young
people, encouraging the participation of women in sports, and creating economic
and social impact.
Speaking at the signing ceremony for
the collaboration, İş Bankası General Manager Hakan Aran expressed his pleasure
in supporting this excellent project by the Tennis Federation, stating that
they see this sponsorship as the first step in supporting the Federation's
dreams in the long term.
Aran mentioned that they recently
initiated their first collaboration with the Tennis Federation through an
investment fund and said, "I kindly ask you to interpret this
collaboration as a transition to a larger agreement that we will likely announce
towards the end of the year."
“We aspire to find our future open
tennis champions from all 81 provinces of Turkey, to make tennis an easily
accessible sport, and to create hope by creating success stories”
Recalling that they have supported
the development of chess in the country for 20 years, Aran recounted a story
from the early years of that sponsorship. When Garry Kasparov, whom they had
invited to Turkey, was asked by a journalist, "Could a Kasparov emerge
from Turkey too?", he replied, "Why not? You are a country with a
population of 65 million. The important thing is to plan how you will reach
him, how you will find him." Aran said, “This question and answer shaped
our 20-year roadmap in chess. We opened chess classes in over 40,000 schools.
We enabled our children and youth of all ages to participate in championships,
supported national team camps, and provided opportunities for them to play
against world champions. Fortunately, in this journey we started from almost
scratch in 2006, we now have grandmasters aged 12-13 who are European and world
champions, and young players who defeat world champions.”
Hakan Aran stated that they know what
they have accomplished in this 20-year journey and that when the President of
the Tennis Federation shared her dreams with them, they believed the same
success could be replicated in tennis, and the number of tennis players who are
a source of pride for all of us today could be increased in the very near
future. He continued his words as follows:
“We aspire to find our children who
will become open tennis champions from all 81 provinces, nearly a thousand
districts, and even over 18,000 villages of Turkey; to make them love and learn
tennis; to turn it into an easily accessible sport, and to create hope by
creating success stories. We generally take this step when we see federations
and administrations that share this dream. Fortunately, tennis currently has
such an idealistic federation president. I hope that with our support, this
journey will become a beautiful success story that lasts for years.”
“The TTF and İş Bankası
collaboration is carrying tennis to every corner of the country”
In her speech, Turkish Tennis
Federation President Şafak Müderrisgil made the following statements: “We are
delighted to realize the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Team Championship,
which will be held from October 1–5, 2025, hosted by the Gaziantep Metropolitan
Municipality, in collaboration with İş Bankası. This organization will not only
offer equal opportunities to our youth in the region but will also aim to
create a social and economic impact by encouraging the participation of girls
and women in sports.”
Müderrisgil also mentioned that this
championship is the first step of the restructured Turkish Tennis League, which
they will launch starting in 2026. “One of our most important goals is to
establish a competitive league with high brand value that encompasses all age
categories and every region of our country. We are very happy that İş Bankası's
vision, focused on youth, women, and social development, aligns with the future
goals of Turkish tennis. Thanks to this valuable collaboration, we aim to spread
tennis to every corner of our country and more strongly integrate the sport of
tennis into the lives of our children and youth,” she said.
A total of 230 athletes will take
to the court
A total of 230 athletes from 38 men's
and 26 women's teams will compete in the “Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia
Team Championship” at the Gaziantep Mehmet Şimşek Tennis Complex. 42 clubs from
the provinces of Ardahan, Batman, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Gaziantep,
Hakkari, Iğdır, Malatya, Mardin, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Şırnak, Tunceli, and Van
will participate in the organization, which features athletes in the 13–30 age
group.
Collaboration that started with a
sports fund is growing
The İş Bankası Group's collaborations
in the field of tennis are not limited to this championship. In July, the “TTF
Tennis Support Variable Fund” was established in cooperation with İş Portföy,
one of the Group's subsidiaries, and the Turkish Tennis Federation. This
first-of-its-kind sports-focused impact investment fund provides financial
support to young and promising athletes while also managing the savings of
investors.
19 September 2025
