2013 Roland Garros Wheelchair Tennis- Part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour

*** For immediate use June 3, 2013



Tokyo, June 3, 2013 - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) announced today that 16 of the world's top wheelchair tennis players will participate in the Roland Garros wheelchair tennis event in Paris on 5-7 June, 2013. The event is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour.

<<Fact sheet>>
Event Name:  Roland Garros, one of four Grand Slams on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour
Period:  5-7 June, 2013
Venue:  Stade Roland-Garros 2, avenue Gordon-Bennett, Paris, France
Organiser:  FFT (Federation Francaise de Tennis)
(www.itftennis.com/wheelchair/news/articles/kunieda-and-van-koot-head-roland-garros-entries.aspx)

Participants include the world's No. 1 ranked players, Shingo Kunieda of Japan and Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands, who were runners-up in the men's singles and women's singles, respectively, at Roland Garros in 2012.

The men's field also includes the world's No. 2 ranked player and defending champion, Stephane Houdet of France, who won his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2012.

Houdet was named ITF Wheelchair Tennis World Champion for the first time in 2012. Houdet and 13-time ITF World Champion Esther Vergeer, who announced her retirement earlier this year, will receive their trophies at the 2013 ITF World Champions Dinner, held in Paris on 4 June.

The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, organized by the ITF and sponsored by NEC, has one of the most advanced and far-reaching tournament calendars and ranking systems in international disability sport. The Tour includes wheelchair tennis events at all four Grand Slams, with total prize money of more than one million US dollars.

The 2013 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour started on January 2, 2013, with the Queensland Open in Australia. This year, the NEC Tour consists of more than 160 tournaments in over 30 countries.

The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Rankings are updated weekly by the ITF, with over 600 men, 190 women and 65 quad players from over 50 countries.

The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour has events at a variety of levels, from the ITF Futures Series through to the four Grand Slam events.
 
Following September's US Open in New York, the last of the four Grand Slams, the top eight men's and women's players and top four quad players on the rankings qualify for the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters (*1) in Belgium in November.

The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour is part of the NEC Make-a-Difference Drive (*2) of volunteer opportunities for NEC employees. NEC members volunteer for the Tour in such positions as linespeople, ballpersons and interpreters.

Looking forward, NEC will continue to develop its role in the Wheelchair Tennis Tour as part of becoming a leading global company that leverages the power of innovation to realise an information society friendly to people and the earth.

Notes

(*1) NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters
The NEC Masters is the year-end championship for the world's top ranked singles players, held in Belgium in November. NEC has sponsored the event since 1994.
http://beta.itftennis.com/wheelchair/tournaments/singles-masters/overview.aspx

(*2) NEC-Make-a-Difference Drive
The "NEC Make-a-Difference Drive (NEC MDD)" is a volunteer program where
NEC group employees participate in a wide variety of social contribution activities
throughout the world. More than 55,000 employees all around the world took part in
the MDD in the last fiscal year.
http://www.nec.com/en/global/community/necmd/e/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/necmdd