Karnataka Chief Minister late by 2 hours, tennis legend walks away from event

An official said Bjorn Borg will be felicitated at Basavaraj Bommai's office.

Bjorn Borg, Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player, left an event in Bengaluru that was meant to felicitate him because Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai did not turn up on time on Tuesday, Deccan Herald reported. The politician arrived almost two hours late.

The event was organised by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) to honour Bjorn Borg, who is a 11-time Grand Slam winner, and former Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj. Borg was in Bengaluru to watch his son play in the Bengaluru Open.

The programme to honour the tennis greats was first scheduled for 9:30 am. It was postponed to 10:15 am as Basavaraj Bommai was running late. However, the Chief Minister did not turn up until 11:15 am by which time, Borg had left the venue.

By the time Bommai arrived, Borg was watching his son Leo’s match which began at 11 am. With the felicitation event cancelled, Bommai ended up watching the match for 15 to 20 minutes before he left the venue, according to Deccan Herald.

"Both of them will be felicitated at the Chief Minister's office tomorrow or the day after," Sunil Yajaman, joint secretary of KSLTA, told BBC Hindi on Tuesday.

“The Chief Minister was delayed due to some of his other commitments,” Deccan Herald quoted an organiser as saying.

“We did inform him (Bommai) 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.”