Blast takes its toll- Indian Open badminton postponed

New Delhi,Aug 28 (UNI) Saturday's bomb blast in Hyderabad claimed yet another victim -- the Indian Open badminton event scheduled to take place in the southern city from September 4 to 9, was postponed today.

This is perhaps the first sporting event in the country in recent years, to have been postponed following a terrorist atack.

And it is likely to have a casacading effect on the World Military Games slated to be held in the City in Octber and the One day match between India and Australia.

Badminton Associaton of India (BAI) President V K Verma admitted that the tournament had to be postponed as International players were not willing to come for the event.

''We had to postpone the event as many teams had expressed concern due to the prevailing situation in the city after the blasts. It is likely to take place in January 7-13 now.'' The 150,000 USD prize money event with Olympic qualification points had attracted leading badminton stars from 15 countries.

World Champion Zhu Lin of China, Olympic gold medallist Taufiq Hidayat (Indonesia) and leading Malaysian shuttlers Lee Chong Wei, Mohd Hafiz Hashim were among the top players to take part in the Indian open.

After the blasts Malaysia, China, Japan, Korea requested the BAI to postpone the tournament and seek new dates for hosting it. ''The participating teams from Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan were anxious about their safety.'' The BAI chief added that this is an important international tournament in which leading players were going to take part and ''they can play only when the mind is absolutely free. So, they asked us for change of the dates of the tournament.'' He asserted that the postponement should not be construed as a setback and hoped that ''BAI will be able to mange a much bigger field next year for the tourney.'' ''The new year will open with a tournament having much stronger and bigger field as several leading European players will also be taking part this time,'' he added.

UNI