Indian Open Postponed

[robertmac]

World Snooker has been just posted this
on their website.

Indian Open Postponed

This season's Indian Open world ranking event in Mumbai has been postponed, with the original dates of 13-17 October 2014 changed to 10-14 March 2015.

World Snooker has been advised by the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India to change the dates of the tournament. This follows the recent calling of a State Election in Maharashtra during the October dates.



The qualifying round in Barnsley was due to take place from September 18 to 21 and has been moved to February.



World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: "This is an unfortunate set of circumstances but following the advice we have taken, we have no choice but to postpone the tournament. We have worked swiftly to ensure new dates have been secured.



"Last year's inaugural Indian Open in New Delhi was a fantastic success and we see snooker in India as having incredible potential for growth. We look forward to next March and the chance for players to experience Mumbai for the first time - and for the fans there to witness the world's best in action."

[DeanH]

yep, was reading this earlier this afternoon and was wondering why does a State Election cause enough disturbance that a snooker event has to be moved?

[robertmac]

Yes seems strange. I also see that the International
Championship tournament shows as Unknown Venue
on their website for October.

[DeanH]

the calendar and some other pages are not updated quickly or fully. Seems to be a constant with the WS site, links not working, etc etc

ps, International Championship is being held at Chengdu Eastern Music Park

[robertmac]

Thanks for the update. Where did you find this?

I wish they would put more effort into keeping their
website current.

[DeanH]

Thanks for the update. Where did you find this?

now that would be telling....
probably from several sources, WS calendar and News announcements (in this case I recall), Snooker Scene, various other websites

I wish they would put more effort into keeping their
website current.

seconded, maybe there is a vacancy for some website-type person

[aditya_147]

It has bean postponed coz of elections in Maharashtra , due to elections it will be not possible for the governing body to provide special security needed for the tour to be completed without any problems and as bsfi could not compromise on the point they postponed it to the next available dates on world snooker calendar .

[syw]

After seeing the Daily Mail article at the beginning of this week, stating that Indian airports, particularly Delhi are being targeted by terrorists, I am astounded to hear that World Snooker are going ahead with the Indian Open in February/March. I understand that the Indian airports are cranking up their security to include armed officers on flights in response to specific intelligence indicating a high risk of attack.

The Home Office website advises that we must not travel to areas near the Pakistan border, and that all areas of India are at high risk of terrorist attack. I wonder how World Snooker can guarantee the players' safety under these circumstances?

It seems unfair if players decide not to enter when ranking points are at stake.

Any thoughts/comments? What are the players thinking?