Roger Federer out: Demonetisation bowls out Indian sports

Although the immediate ban of old ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 notes has been done to fight corruption and end the black money in the country, the consequences have been bad for more than half of the population.

 

Watch: When Kohli was affected by demonetization

 

Demonetisation has stricken even the Indian sports. Earlier, it was reported that the first three Tests between India and England at Rajkot, Vizag and Mohali suffered a massive loss as the fans found it difficult to make it to the ground due to lack of currency.

 

Meanwhile, the inaugural season of Pro-Wrestling in 2015, which happened to be a huge success regenerating wrestling fever in India, has been postponed from its original scheduled start of December 15.

 

The tournament, which will witness the largest pool of Olympians and World Champions like Sakshi Malik and Yogeshwar Dutt, has been rescheduled to be held from January 2 to January 19, 2017.

 

The cash crunch in the country has led to unbelievable long queues outside ATMs and banks which have now forced the authorities to limit the daily withdrawals.

 

The latest side effect will leave tennis fans disappointed. Due to the demonetisation, there will be no Roger Federer and Serena Williams in the upcoming Indian leg of the International Tennis Premier League (ITPL).

 

The duo who plays for IPTL's franchises, Indian Aces and Singapore Slammers respectively, have been out of action due to injuries and were expected to play in the Indian leg of the league.

 

Federer, having last played in July in Wimbledon, was looking to return to action. He has a massive following in India and Federer was one of the primary reasons behind the success of the previous editions of the IPTL.

 

Now, since the Swiss will not be participating in the ITPL leg in Hyderabad, fans across will have to wait until January. 

 

"We have had challenges this year, and we are hoping to get past them. With the current economic climate in India and uncertainty of spending money, I reached out to both Roger (Federer) and Serena (Williams) to explain the situation. They have been very supportive of the IPTL the first two seasons and we look forward to bring them in future years," Mahesh Bhupathi said in a statement.

 

According to a report from ESPN, the sales of IPTL tickets in India have already been slow due to demonetisation. Had Federer and Williams played in India, they could have attracted a few loyal fans to the stadium.