In a major jolt to the image of the UP government, about 70 foreign tennis players have pulled out of the International Tennis Federation’s Futures event in Lucknow saying they are worried about security in the state.
Mr J.S. Kaul, the organising secretary of the $10,000 tournament, said, “Tennis players from Sweden, Australia, Britain, Germany, France, Serbia, Russia, Ukraine, China and Japan have cited security as the reason for withdrawing their names from the ITF tournament that began here on Saturday. The players must have gone through media reports on rapes, murders and robberies being reported from UP and decided not to participate.”
According to Mr Kaul, who is also the treasurer of the UP Tennis Association, the Futures tournament is for middle-rung players seeded over 300 and offers them a chance to gain points, climb the ITF rankings and participate in major tournaments.
This is the fifth Futures tournament in India this year and the main round begins on Monday.
According to the official, there have been 102 withdrawals from the Lucknow ITF, of which 68 are foreign players.
Several domestic players have also withdrawn on account of other commitments.
The organisers, apparently, have been taken aback by the large number of withdrawals from the tournament.
The government has repeatedly claimed that the law and order situation in the state is improving but the incidents contradict their claims.
BSP president Mayawati met UP governor B.L. Joshi on Friday to demand imposition of President’s Rule in the state due to the poor law and order situation.
Meanwhile, the BJP has termed the pulling out of foreign players as a serious issue and accused the ruling Samajwadi Party of tarnishing the image of the entire state with its poor governance.