 The tournament was initially only sanctioned by the European Tour and the Indian Golf Union, the announcement of which drew sharp criticism from both Asian Tour chairman Kyi Hla Han and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), with both organisations claiming that the European Tour had breached International Federation of PGA Tours protocols by not making advance arrangements with them for co-sanctioning of an event to be staged in their region.The Indian Golf Union issued a statement a few days after the tournament was announced stating that the European Tour had approached it, and was willing to offer 20 invitations to Indian domestic players through the PGTI.The dispute was eventually settled, and the Asian Tour agreed terms to co-sanction the tournament in advance of its 2008 debut.