From e-paper -
BANGALORE ATP
CANCELLED
Is Bangalore really unsafe?
Prajwal Hegde | TNN
Bangalore: The ATP’s decision to cancel the high-profile Bangalore Open due to security concerns has left Bangaloreans and followers of the game stunned.
The $400,000 event was scheduled to be held at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) courts from September 29 to October 5, but
the ATP, the governing body of men’s tennis, called off the Bangalore Open, after promoters of the event BIG Live raised security fears.
The security issue cropped up after a series of bomb blasts rocked Bangalore on July 25, leaving one dead. However, those blasts have not stopped the International Billiards and Snooker Federation or security-paranoid Cricket Australia from cancelling scheduled tournaments and tours.
The World Billiards Championship is slated to be held from September 1 to 10, while Ricky Ponting’s team start the four-Test series of India in Bangalore, where the first Test is scheduled to begin from October 9.
If the Karnataka State Billiards Association Hall and the Chinnaswamy stadium, a mere stone’s throw from the KSLTA, are safe for international sporting action, why isn’t the KSLTA?
Is Bangalore really unsafe to host an international sporting event? Or is there more to it than meets the eye? Could it be that the promoters failed to find a sponsor for the tournament and conveniently used the security factor to get away?
Several calls to BIG Live over the last few days were met with either ‘I’m not authorized to comment on this issue’ or ‘Ask the ATP.’
“We don’t comment on specifics concerning security,’’ Nicola Arzani, vice-president, media and marketing operations, said when TOI quizzed the ATP on the procedure it followed while suspending a tournament for security reasons. “The local promoter believed it to be a security issue and regrettably the ATP accepted his petition to suspend the 2008 event,’’ Arzani added.
Prior to suspending the tournament, the ATP had asked KSLTA secretary Sunder Raju his views on the security situation.
“I told them the security risk perception this time was no different than when we had other ATP and WTA tournaments here in the last seven years. The government and the police said they would do everything in their power to ensure a safe tournament,’’ Raju said.
In March, the elite Tier II WTA event, which boasted of a field that included American stars Venus and Serena Williams, went through without so much as a blip.
“The cancellation has hurt the image of Karnataka and Bangalore as also the game of tennis and the KSLTA,’’ the secretary said.