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Organisational lapses
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The WTA tournament was a picture of chaos, thanks to bungling organisers
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Photos: P.V.Sivakumar
THAT SANIA Mirza was a bigger draw in her hometown than the grand dame of women's tennis, Martina Navratilova, was obvious. Right from her opening doubles match with Shikha Uberoi, the Women's Tennis Association-Hyderabad Open 2005 gained in attendance. That was enough indication for Globosport, organisers of the event, to draw up their plans for the days ahead.
What transpired on the last three of the six-day Tier IV event, however, exposed the lack of planning and the unruly scenes that arose thereof. Although each gate of the Lal Bahadur Stadium complex was clearly named, the car passes and even accredited identification cards bore no information whatsoever on the points of entry. Not surprisingly, the gates closest to the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh tennis complex, venue of the said championships, were jammed with vehicles and people trying to enter on the final day.
At the gate used by VIPs, cars carrying the players were stranded with policemen not properly briefed, on whom to let in and those to be turned away.
Shwetha Bhupathi, Mahesh's wife, was heard saying she'd scaled the fence. Sadly, several valid pass holders, including women, children and elders were sent away.
After considerable effort, this correspondent managed to convince a police officer to gain entry, after arriving at the stadium more than half-an-hour before the scheduled start.
In a section of the VIP enclosure, marked for the media, a place to sit and take notes seemed to be at a premium. Cooling their heels for quite a while before getting a seat were Anil Khanna of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), an IAS officer, an MP, a film producer and some celebrities. To accommodate these people, others had to give way. One lady, holding a VIP pass, complained loudly that she felt insulted at the eviction.
Presently, as the games on centre court progressed, the crowds grew. One look this way and that gave rise to fears of a repeat of the Heysel stadium disaster, where the stands simply could not hold the weight of the crowds. Clearly the capacity figures had been ignored, with the aisles, landings and walkways packed with people. Indiscriminate doling out of complimentary passes had caused the overcrowding.
Other aspects lacked professionalism too. For instance, Roberta Vinci was announced officially as the winner of her first round match against Emilia Salerni, when the truth was vice-versa. This misinformation found its way even to the official WTA website. Marta Domachowska of Poland was declared fifth seed at the draw of lots but her withdrawal was kept in the dark till the next day. With no electronic scoreboard, the manual one on several occasions did not carry the names of the players slugging it out below. Only the scores on display left the entire stadium guessing, except maybe the chair umpire. Little rationale went into designating areas of operation for accredited card holders, some of them totally unconnected to the event, having access even to the courtside!
Such foul-ups can be condoned for first-timers, amateurs or those new to organising such events. For Globosport, it was the third time that they were conducting the event, having staged it earlier in 2003 and 2004. In good faith, the Andhra Pradesh Government gave the organisers a free hand. So did it support the event financially, this year alone costing Rs. 3.5 crore, despite the sharpest decline of participation by the game's leading players. Na Li, who had been given top billing, did not figure even in the top 50 of the WTA rankings.
With such huge amounts of the taxpayers' money involved, some introspection after the dust has settled, would not be out of place. With the stands overcrowded, what if there was disaster involving loss of human life? Efforts were made to introduce tickets, ostensibly to contain crowd pressure.
If that be so in the future, who would get the revenues — the State Government that has been coughing up huge amounts to stage the event or Globosport that has been unable to get sponsors? Shouldn't the field be thrown open to more players in event management, apart from Globosport? Shouldn't the State exercise greater control in running the event, for better utilisation of the funds it shells out?
A. JOSEPH ANTONY
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