CCI stadium shunts tennis for cricket

Cricket's gain is tennis' loss, at least in the Indian sports stadiums.

With the fourth ODI between India and West Indies originally scheduled on Monday at Wankhede Stadium being shifted to Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium, the Mumbai Open WTA — the city's premier tennis tournament for women also held at the CCI tennis courts — was forced to postpone the start of its main rounds.

The situation arose because the Mumbai Cricket Association, which was to host the cricket match at Wankhede Stadium, cited its inability to issue tenders to the vendors for the ODI. The Board of Control for Cricket in India therefore shifted the match to CCI on October 12, which meant that although the dates for the Mumbai Open WTA were announced much earlier, the tennis event had to make way for cricket.

"Keeping in mind the large gathering that will be coming for India vs West Indies cricket match and to avoid any untoward incident, the organisers and WTA officials have jointly decided to start the main draw matches on Tuesday," said a statement from Mumbai Open's joint tournament directors Prashant Sutar and Sunder Iyer.

India's top women's singles tennis players, including the top-ranked Indian Ankita Raina and the second-best Karman Kaur Thandi, will now have to begin their campaign on Tuesday instead of the original Monday start.