Badminton championship peacefully drawing to close

HYDERABAD - Notwithstanding the English team’s pull-out and two Austrian players withdrawing from the World Badminton Championships here citing security reasons, the event is drawing to an end without any untoward incident having occurred.

The local police heaved a sigh of relief as almost all participating nations were satisfied with the security arrangements and did not “overreact” like England and even a player and coach from Austria stayed back despite the pull-out by two players.

The two Austrian players Wednesday quietly slipped out of the championships, citing apprehensions over security. However, Canadian players stayed back ignoring an advisory from their foreign office to leave India before Independence Day Saturday.

“This shows the confidence the participating teams have in our security arrangements. The pullout of the English team a day before the event had no impact on the championship,” a senior police official told IANS.

Over 350 players from 42 countries participated in the seven-day event that comes to an end Sunday.

Under the security plan prepared by experts, 1,000 security personnel, including 45 armed guards trained in anti-terror operations, were deployed during the event.

The English team returned home last Sunday, a day before the event began, citing security concerns, following a media report that the event faced a threat from terrorists.

The central intelligence agencies had warned Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata that terror group Lashker-e-Taiba might carry out attacks on Independence Day, but police here said there was no real threat to the badminton championships.

Despite an assurance of foolproof security from Cyberabad police, the English team pulled out and after returning home claimed that the security was ‘very lax’ and they were not provided armed guards.

Dismissing their allegations, a top police official told IANS the players and officials were provided armed guards and they were briefed about the security measures.

“As professionals we know our duties and responsibilities to provide security for an international event of this nature. The security was provided professionally and after going into all the requirements,” Additional Director General of Police (law and order) A.K. Khan told IANS.

About the England team officials’ statements that they were not impressed with the security, Khan said: “It is their personal perception. We can’t comment on it. Every other team participating in the championship was satisfied with the security arrangements we have made.”

“The security measures that we have taken are standard measures whether in UK, India or any other part of the world,” said Khan, who is also the spokesman for state police.

Khan also pointed out that this was not the first time police made security arrangements for an international event.

Cyberabad police, under whose jurisdiction the venue of the championship falls, had earlier provided security for the Indian badminton open.

It also provided security for the World Military Games, the annual meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank, the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the Afro-Asian Games and National Games in the past.

Khan denied that armed guards were not provided to the English team. “No. This is not correct. They were provided armed guards at the venue, their place of stay and also during transit. Every security measure need not be and should not be visible,” he said.

“We were fully conscious of the factors that go into planning security for such an international event. It was done keeping in view all the requirements and the English team was also briefed of the same,” the police official said.