World Cup venue wall collapses in Chennai

In an inauspicious beginning to the World Cup cricket championship for the Chennai sports lovers, two ticket seekers, a lady and a man, got injured when the outer boundary wall of the MA Chinnaswamy stadium collapsed under the pressure of the thousands of surging fans here on Wednesday morning.

Ticket sales for the four matches being hosted by the Chepauk stadium began in Chennai at 9 am. Poor crowd management early in the morning resulted in hundreds of people rushing towards the ticket counters situated on the boundary wall that was recently plastered and painted as part of the renovations of the Chepauk stadium as it is commonly known, gave away suddenly. The incident occurred an hour after ticket sales for the matches being played at the stadium began at 9am.

According to eyewitnesses, there was a lone policeman battling with managing the unruly crowd that surged towards the ticket counters situated on the boundary and were putting pressure against the boundary wall in front of the Entry gate for A block and Entry gate for Block A and B lower tier enclosures gave way.
Two persons, a lady and a man, were injured as several people lost balance and fell over them along with bricks and mortar. As soon as the portion of the wall tumbled, some 20 feet in length, police personnel from nearby rushed to the spot and took the injured to a local hospital. The injuries were very minor, a police official on the spot said.
Within half an hour more police arrived to set the crowd in order as ticket sales went on uninterrupted.
Said S Sundar, 32, a software engineer with a local firm, he had bunked office to stand in a queue from 5am for the tickets for India match.
“All of a sudden there was pushing and jostling and we were pressed against the wall. And then I fell down and before I could realize what was happening I could feel more people on top of me,” he said showing his bruises.
Seventy-four year old PT Parthasarathy, an electronics engineer too was among the early ticket seekers at the stadium. “I have not seen a live cricket match at the grounds, so had come early for the India match ticket. Luckily I was some distance away from the ticket counter so I could see what was happening. There was no one to manage the crowd,” he said.
Fortunately, it is a small incident, he said hoping that the tickets do not run out before his turn came.
“There is absolutely no problem and I don’t know why the media is making it out to be such a big issue. It is only a portion of an old wall on the periphery of the stadium that collapsed under the weight of the rush of ticket seekers,” said Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary Kasi Vishwanathan.  “The stadium is completely renovated and ready to hold all matches,” he said and added it would handed over to the BCCI on February 4. The ICC officials are also to inspect the stadium. “We have absolutely no doubt that its  world class facilities would ensure a wonderful World Cup,” the TNCA official said.
Chennai will be hosting four matches with Newzealand taking on Kenya in the opener on February 20 followed by England versus South Africa on March 6. On March 17, England takes on South Africa bu the maximum number of ticket seekers were for the India’s match against West Indies slated for March 20.