Tennis Australia has confirmed it wants its Davis Cup match against India moved out of the southern city of Chennai in May due to security concerns. “We have received advice from a variety of sources referring to traveling to India,” Tennis Australia chief executive Steve Wood said in a statement Thursday. “It is on that basis of security concerns that we have asked for the tie to be moved out of India. “The ITF has received our request and is doing its own security assessment. The safety of our players and staff is of paramount importance to Tennis Australia.” The winner of the Asia-Oceania Group 1 match, scheduled for May 8-10, will advance to the playoffs for a spot in the elite world group. Earlier Thursday, The Times of India newspaper quoted an International Tennis Federation spokesman as saying that security checks would be made. “Irrespective of whether a security issue is raised or not, our security advisers look into security aspects of every single Davis Cup tie,” ITF communications officer Nick Imison was quoted saying. “We will proceed on those lines. Security is of utmost importance. Our security advisers will look into the issue and get back to us in a week's time.” All India Tennis Association executive director Col. Chouhan told local media he was confident the match would go ahead as planned. “I'm quite sure everything will be OK and we can hold the tie in India,” he was quoted saying in the Times. “I personally went to Chennai to oversee everything. In January we had the Chennai ATP event there, it was very successful and it was after the terrorist attack in Mumbai. “We'll be using the same stadium, the same hotel, and the same security agency for the Davis Cup tie too and we have the full support of the government. That's the reason why we chose Chennai over the other venues. It's absolutely safe.” The Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament was moved this week to South Africa due to security concerns in India. A terror attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore, Pakistan earlier this month heightened concerns about security for sports events on the Indian sub continent. Seven Test players, an assistant coach and a match official were among those injured. Six policemen and a driver were killed in the ambush by heavily armed gunmen. In November, terror attacks in India's financial capital Mumbai left 164 people dead and forced the cancellation of a Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament involving provincial teams from five countries.
