Security hits tickets for India-Pakistan clash

NEW DELHI: Tough security measures in place for the field hockey World Cup look set to prevent hundreds of fans from watching the opening day’s clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan on Sunday.

Tickets for the day’s three matches in the 12-nation tournament at the 19,000-seater Dhyan Chand National Stadium are not available online or through the designated outlets in the Indian capital.

“We did not get a stock for the first day, but tickets for the others days are available with us,” said a manager of a Cafe Coffee Day shop. “Everyone is asking for tickets for the India-Pakistan match.”

The website is selling tickets online, but for matches from the second day onwards and only for the general uncovered stands.

Tickets are not being sold for the covered stands on the southern side of the stadium, where the teams’ dressing rooms are, for the entire tournament which ends on March 13.

A member of the organising committee declined to comment on why tickets for the opening day were not available, amid speculation that police in plain clothes will fill the stands.

“For the other days there is no problem,” he said. “As for the covered stands, we have been advised by police not to sell tickets as a security precaution.”

A newspaper reported over the weekend that “police want the organizers to refund the money if tickets have been sold for the covered stands.”

Security concerns for the World Cup were fuelled by a bomb blast last week in the western city of Pune that killed 15 people.

It was the first major attack on Indian soil since the 2008 Mumbai assault by Islamist gunmen that left 166 dead.

India has imposed a security clampdown for the tournament, which is being regarded as a test run for anti-terror measures ahead of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi from October 3-14.

Home secretary G.K. Pillai had said on Monday that although there was no “credible threat” to the World Cup, thousands of police and para-military forces would guard the tournament.

Former India hockey captain Pargat Singh, who failed to secure the opening day’s tickets for his sports academy students, lashed out at the organisers.

“This will be by far the worst organised World Cup,” Singh said. “What should have been a showpiece event is fast becoming an embarrassment.

“I have been trying to buy tickets for players of my academy for the past two weeks, but still don’t know how to procure them,” he said.

The media has been barred from entering the stadium or interacting with the players till the tournament starts under instructions from tournament director Ken Read.

“Read has determined that media access to training will not be possible until accreditations are active, which is expected to be on February 27th,” a statement from the organisers said on Tuesday.