GEORGE TOWN: The cancellation of the inaugural US$5 million (RM17.5 million) "Kings of Tennis" event here has caused much unhappiness among tennis fans.

Among those left in a quandary was landscape contractor Abdul Wahab Hamid, 44, who paid RM200 for a ticket to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event.

He hit out at the organisers over the eleventh hour cancellation.

"I bought the ticket after browsing through the official website on Tuesday that the event would take place this weekend."


Wahab hoped to get a refund.

Another ticket holder, Kevin Tan, 25, who bought two tickets for RM400, wanted the local promoter, Arianna Teoh, to work out a refund mechanism.



Lasse Olsson, the managing director of the tennis bonanza, said the event was scrapped due to the organisers' shortcomings.

"We express our sincere apologies to the public that the local promoter failed to remit the funds despite a number of ultimatums issued by us.

"The event has been cancelled. We notified the local promoter last week," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, state Tourism Development Committee chairman Law Heng Kiang said the promoter had informed the state government that the event would go on.



"We have nothing to do with it. The promoter wanted to have it in Penang and we were all for it.

"As a goodwill gesture, we offered the organisers the picturesque historical site of the Esplanade as the venue to attract more people," he said, adding that the state government even waived a RM2 million bank guarantee condition imposed on the promoter.

Penang Island Municipal Council president Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman confirmed that the promoters had yet to pay RM200,000 rental of the field as stipulated in the agreement.

Bernama reported that the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia was in the dark over the event as it was not sanctioned.