Indian ATP doubles tournament to be postponed

The ATP world men's doubles tournament due to be played in Bangalore early next month will be postponed, an Indian tennis official said on Wednesday.

"It's definitely postponed. The November 7 start is not on," Anil Khanna, secretary of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), told Reuters.

The November 7-11 tournament has been hit by uncertainty because of security concerns after last month's attacks on the United States and the ongoing strikes on Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, tournament organisers wrote to ATP officials asking for a postponement due to local problems and security worries.

Khanna said a reply from the ATP was still awaited, but added it would not be possible to hold the event on its original dates.

He said it was too early to say whether the tournament was in danger of being cancelled.

A tournament organiser said last week that players were unwilling to travel to South Asia because of security concerns.

"Our concern is that once the tournament is held, there should be proper participation. It should be commercially viable and sponsors should see value," Sunder Raju, secretary of the Karnataka state tennis association told Reuters.

Worries over player safety have also raised doubts about whether England's cricket team will go ahead with their test tour of India that is due to start next month.

The first Afro-Asian games, which was to take place in New Delhi next month, was put off indefinitely because of security fears.