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Tennis legend Bjorn Borg leaves Bengaluru felicitation event after top minister to honour him arrives almost 2 hours late

Tennis legends Björn Borg and Vijay Amritraj at a press meet in Bengaluru, India, on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. (ANI Photo)

By: Shubham Ghosh

India’s Bengaluru on Wednesday (22) remained witness to an embarrassment as former tennis player Bjorn Borg walked away from an event in the city where he was supposed to be felicitated as the topmost local politician arrived nearly two hours late.

Basavaraj Bommai, the chief minister of the southern state of Karnataka of which Bengaluru is the capital, arrived at the programme at 11.15 am local time when it was scheduled at 9.30 am. Bommai, who belongs to prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, was to honour the Swedish legend.

Former Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj was also set to be felicitated along with Borg.

Borg, 66, left by then to watch his son Leo play a match in the Bengaluru Tennis Open. The 19-year-old lost the match against his Taiwanese opponent 2-6, 3-6.

An unnamed official from the event’s organising committee told Bengaluru-based Deccan Herald newspaper that Bommai got late because of “some of his other commitments”.

The ceremony to honour Borg was cancelled later but would be held on a later date this week, it was learnt.

Sunil Yajaman, joint secretary of Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA), said they took the decision to cancel the event as Amritraj felt it would not be right for him to get honoured alone.

“Both of them will be felicitated at the chief minister’s office tomorrow or the day after,” he told the BBC.

Borg, who played in the 1970s and 1980s, later signed his photograph at the KSLTA’s Hall of Fame during a dinner hosted by Amritraj in his honour.

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