Bengaluru: Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg declined the felicitation at an event in Bengaluru on Tuesday after Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was nearly two hours late to the venue.
The event, organized by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) to honour Borg and former Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj, was scheduled to begin at 9:30 am but was postponed to 10:15 am due to the Chief Minister's tardiness. As Borg had to attend his son's game at 11 am, he left the venue before the event could begin. Chief Minister Bommai arrived at the event at 11:15 am and watched Borg's son play briefly before leaving.
In clarification, reports have quoted an official from the Chief Minister's office as saying, “The Chief Minister was delayed due to some of his other commitments,” said an official from the organising committee. “We did inform him (CM) that Borg would be watching his son play and would not be able to be present for the felicitation. But CM was very sportive about the whole situation and decided to still come to the courts and watch some action,” the official was quoted as saying.
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Former Indian tennis star and Padma Shree awardee Vijay Amritraj, who was also slated to be honoured along with Borg at the event, also decided to take a pass on the felicitation, since he thought it would be "inappropriate" for him to be felicitated alone. Reports also quoted joint secretary of KSLTA, Sunil Yajaman as saying that the authorities decided to cancel the programme on Amritraj's insistence.
Following it, sources in the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association said that CM Bommai will call Borg and Amritraj to the Chief Minister's office in the next two days and felicitate them. Nineteen-year-old Leo, Borg's son lost the match with a score of 6-2, 6-3. After the game, Bjorn Borg attended a dinner hosted in his honor by Amritraj, where he signed his photograph at the KSLTA's Hall of Fame.
Borg is a retired and celebrated Swedish tennis player who held the world No. 1 ranking, made history between 1974 and 1981 as the first male player in the Open Era to secure 11 Grand Slam singles titles. He won six titles at the French Open and five consecutive titles at Wimbledon.
