SINGAPORE (AFP) - Asian Tour chief Kyi Hla Han is upbeat about the outlook for 2010 despite the global downturn and the emergence of the rival OneAsia Tour.

The current season has been hit by sponsors reviewing their sporting commitments and the launch of OneAsia, a rival tour that took over two Asian Tour events.

But Kyi Hla Han is optimistic, saying OneAsia has not lived up to many of its promises while sponsors were showing renewed interest in hosting tournaments.

"I'm very positive about next year," he told AFP.

"We're getting a lot of inquiries and requests. We are talking to quite a few new sponsors and they seem very interested, so to me it's looking good for next year."

He said an enhanced television platform, with Britain's Sky Sports and VIASAT in Scandinavia agreeing to broadcast Asian Tour events, meant far better exposure and sponsors were keen to come on board.

"When we show our sponsors what our tv platform is they are very happy with the way we are moving forward," he said.

"This year has been unfortunate with the financial storm plus the OneAsia crisis, but I think we've weathered it pretty well."

OneAsia launched in January, bringing together Tours from China, South Korea and Australia to form a "super series" that it hopes can rival the European and US Tours.

It initially had six events on its calendar with a boast that each would offer at least one million dollars in prizemoney.

But one event fell through and only three of them will meet the cash pledge.

There is no love lost between the two Tours and Kyi Hla Han said there were no plans to reopen talks to smooth out their differences.

"Not at this moment," he said.

"It just seems hard to know what OneAsia is up to, They claim one thing and do another. I really don't know what their objectives are.

"My objective is clear -- get more tournaments for the players, and it has been very positive in the past few months in getting our 2010 schedule together."

Despite losing several events this year to OneAsia and the economic turmoil, the Asian Tour has added a new event to the end of the season, the Kings Cup in Thailand, and is close to announcing another.

That would make 24 in 2009.

OneAsia says it will host 12-15 tournaments next year, but Kyi Hla Han is sceptical.

"I'd like to see it to believe it," he said.

"They can claim whatever they want. They claim that what they offer is an advancement for the sponsors in terms of better fields, but it hasn't been that way.

"If you look at the two tournaments they have held this year, the status has actually gone down. They were Asian Tour events before and we can clearly see the status has gone down.

"If they say they are bringing an enhancement to the region then they need to show it because that hasn't been the case so far."

While OneAsia may not have made the impact it planned, it still has the support of golfing authorities in China, a lucrative market that Kyi Hla Han is keen to get back into.

But he is not sure what direction the China Golf Association is moving.

"I don't really know what China is looking at, I don't think they do," he said.

"You look at the Omega China Tour this year and it stopped after four events. It was supposed to be 12-15, or at least that was the claim a few years ago. We haven't seen it.

"We'd love to stage events in China again but we're not going to do it just to spite OneAsia. We'll talk about it."