The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : WTA Tour inauguration put off by a day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 12, 2007
ePaper


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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

WTA Tour inauguration put off by a day

Kalyan Ashok

ONE MORE DAY'S WAIT: A view of the venue of the WTA Tour in Bangalore. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: It is sort of a first in the tour history of the WTA. The tour event has never been postponed because of a general strike, although there have been delayed starts due to rain and other natural causes.

But with the KSLTA opting to go along with popular sentiment on the bandh on Monday, the Sony Ericsson WTA International championship's inauguration has been postponed by a day.

The event will start at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, though the official inauguration is at 4.30 p.m.

Tennis buffs will have to wait for another 24 hours.

The KSLTA officials admit that the decision was taken in view of the security of players, officials and spectators.

There was a move to start the championship at 6.30 p.m. on Monday, but it was dropped because even if the players had turned up, there would not been adequate ground staff to oversee the matches and of course, getting the ball boys, 45 in all, from different parts of the city would have been a Herculean task.

Parents would not risk sending their wards to matches even if the bandh had ended by 6 p.m.

Has WTA Tour ever faced such a situation? "Never heard of it, another first I guess,'' said Kevin Livesey, a director on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Board.

Melanine Heur, WTA Tour supervisor, admitted that it was unexpected. "I don't think we have faced such issues before, though we have had delayed starts due to rain, and it is for the first time we are going to put off matches because of a strike," she said.

Ms. Heuer, however, was confident of running the schedule on track on Tuesday. "There will be a few more matches on both Tuesday and Wednesday, the schedule is going to be tight, but we can take care of it," she said.

But it is going to be tough on players. "Do we have a choice? We have to bear it, these things sometimes happens on tour," said Shikha Uberoi, who along with Sania Mirza spearheads the Indian challenge in the championship, after the exit of all Indians in the qualifying rounds which were completed on Sunday.

First Serena's pullout, and now the postponement: the tennis fans hope there won't be any more disappointments. They pin their hopes on Sania to lift their spirits.

In the evening, Joint Commissioner of Police Gopal B. Hosur visited the stadium and had a meeting with the KSLTA officials. He promised them that security cover would be provided to the stadium on Monday.

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