AITA plays down Australia's security concern

New Delhi: The All India Tennis Association on Friday refused Australia's demand of shifting the upcoming Davis Cup tie out of Chennai and demanded the ITF to consider whether they should remain in Asia/Oceania group given their concerns about security in Asian nations.

AITA General Secretary Anil Khanna promised fool-proof security for the Davis Cup tie and said Australia should not have any safety concerns as Chennai had hosted an ATP event (Chennai Open) in January this year.

"There is no risk in the tie from May 8-10. We are ready to provide the best possible security to the players and the officials. If Australia decides to skip the tie I believe they would face the same punishment of two year ban when Indonesia refused to play in Israel," Khanna said.

"Australia should feel safe in India and Chennai. The tie will be held at the same stadium as the Chennai Open, the players will be staying in the same hotels and the same security agency (G4S) will take care of the players," he said.

The AITA general secretary said the ITF's decision to send security assessment team to Chennai as "unnecessary" and said the national body will provide full cooperation.

"We do not consider it necessary for you (ITF) to send a separate security assessment team. India has already already conducted enough international events over the last decade and no security checks have done till now. After the Mumbai attacks, Chennai has already conducted the ATP Tour event successfully," Khanna said.

"We are very confident about the level of security that we will be providing to the visiting team and the officials," he added.

Khanna said he had spoken to the Sports Ministry, the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary and Chennai Police Commissioner and they have assured full security for the players.

Khanna said Australia may not prefer to visit 50 per cent of Asian countries because of their "very different sense of perception about security risks in nations".

The AITA general secretary, who was recently elected as Asian Tennis Federation President, said he has the full support of the Asian nations "who are deeply concerned about non-participation of Australian teams in the juniors' event in Indonesia".