MELBOURNE Tennis Australia says the theft of security plans for October's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi was part of the reason for forfeiting a Davis Cup series with India in May last year.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday that Tennis Australia, which commissioned two security firms to assess the risk of playing in Chennai, felt the theft of the Commonwealth Games material was evidence of lax security in the country.
The report rejected an earlier security assessment by a Chennai consultant — ordered by the International Tennis Federation — as inadequate and conflicted.
Tennis Australia spokesman Darren Pearce told The Associated Press that its group became aware of the stolen security report weeks ahead of the scheduled series, and that its theft from a computer had been reported in India as early as March 2009.
The report comes as India pledged tight security for upcoming sporting events following recent terrorist threats against the Commonwealth Games, Indian Premier League cricket and the field hockey World Cup.
Concerns grew after the Asia Times Online Web site published a message, reportedly from a Kashmir-based guerrilla commander linked to al-Qaida, warning countries not to send athletes to play in the Commonwealth Games, the upcoming IPL cricket season and the field hockey World Cup later this month.
The Herald said the Tennis Australia report, drawing on information from “other security organizations with strong ties to the Chennai region,” does not specify who stole the Commonwealth Games blueprints but a source said “It forced the organizers to rejig the whole security plans for the Games.”
Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said fears of escalated activity by Tamil Tigers coinciding with the month-long Indian election period were other major reasons for withdrawing from the third-round Davis Cup tie.
But he confirmed the report cited, “the Security Plans for the Commonwealth Games to be held in India in 2010 had been stolen” as evidence of lax safety measures.
“Al-Qaida are everywhere in the world but they are a slightly higher risk in India than in other places,” Pollard told the Herald. “If the stolen plans had been the only risk, we would have gone to Chennai but we had the two extra risks of the election and the Tamils in the dying weeks of their last fight.”
Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief executive Perry Crosswhite said he had seen reports of plans missing from a police station but was uncertain they related to security.
“I'm not aware what specifically happened but am aware of reports from India that Commonwealth Games plans had been lost, or stolen,” he said.
Because of the forfeit, India progressed from Asian regional play and went on to win a playoff to be promoted to the Davis Cup World Group in 2010, while Australia remained in the Asia-Oceania event this year and will play a first-round series against Taiwan next month.
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