World Cup: As crowds throng for tickets, cops cane them
By IANSThursday, February 24, 2011
BANGALORE - Police Thursday used canes to control the milling crowds seeking tickets for Sundays India-England World Cup match here as 7,000 tickets were sold out in three hours flat.
Scores of people began the wait Wednesday night for the limited number of tickets available for the public and hundreds had formed a serpentine queue when the counters at the Chinnaswamy Stadium opened at 8.30 a.m. Thursday.
As cricket crazy fans tried to push their way towards the counters, police began to cane them to keep the crowds under control.
“We cannot satisfy all. Nothing much can be done,” Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Secretary and former India paceman Javagal Srinath told a press meet. But crowds continued to mill around the stadium even after the counters put up sold out boards.
“Around 7,000 tickets were sold out in about three hours, Srinath said.
He said only that many tickets were available for the public in view of various commitments - to the KSCA members, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the International Cricket Council (ICC) and corporate members supporting the World Cup.
The Chinnaswamy Stadium can accommodate around 50,000 people.
