Bulls shift ties to Nagpur

'Unavailability of stadium triggered the change'

Having failed to receive any response from the Department of Youth Service and Empowerment (DYES) to their request to use the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, the Bengaluru Bulls have shifted their home matches of the fifth season of the Pro Kabaddi League to Nagpur.  

All matches of the Bengaluru leg, which was scheduled from August 4-10 at the Sree Kanteerava stadium, will now be played at Mankapur Indoor stadium. The Bulls’ management said in a statement on Tuesday that the unavailability of the Kanteerava stadium triggered the late change.

Speaking to DH, Uday Sinh Wala, owner of the Bulls, said despite requesting permission well in advance, they haven’t got any response from the DYES so far.

“We have very little time and lot of arrangements are pending. This time there are four extra teams in the league and the organisers need the stadium well in advance. We wanted the indoor stadium to be handed over to us from July 30 but we haven’t received any response from the DYES. This forced us to make a Plan ‘B’ and we consulted Hyderabad, Pune and Nagpur stadiums. Eventually, based on the availability, we zeroed in on Nagpur,” said Uday.

Uday added that they were asked to wait whenever they approached the DYES. “We constantly reminded the DYES authorities about our documents but we were told to wait. In the end, we ran out of time.” 

The FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, which will also be held at Kanteerava Stadium, is scheduled from July 23-29. Uday said that the dates for the Bengaluru leg was chosen keeping the basketball meet in mind.

“We knew about the basketball tournament and that is the reason we requested the stadium a day after the meet. Earlier, we wanted the Bengaluru leg to be the final leg of the season and had chalked out dates in October. But we were told that Bengaluru will be hosting another international basketball meet in October and Kanteerava will be unavailable,” he explained.

The Bulls received a tremendous response at home in the first three seasons before experiencing a slight dip in supporters in the previous edition. Uday said it was a big loss to the fans of Bengaluru and the team would miss their support.

“Bengaluru is the best venue. We will miss playing in front of our home crowd. Hopefully we shall comeback next year and play on our home ground. Despite not playing at Bengaluru, we look forward to a strong support from our fans throughout the league,” he said.

DYES officials were unavailable for comment.