Oct 14 (Reuters) – The “Six Kings Slam” tennis tournament originally scheduled for October has been postponed to December 27–30, organisers said on Wednesday after the recent attacks on the kingdom while the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is open to postponing the Asian Cup to 2028.
A strike on Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300, with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement claiming responsibility for the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.
“The decision reflects Riyadh Season’s commitment to delivering sporting events to the highest standards, following an assessment of the organizational and logistical challenges associated with hosting the tournament and their potential impact on the quality of the audience experience,” organisers said in a statement.
Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz were set to take part in the event from October 21-24. Defending champion Jannik Sinner withdrew due to injury.
The tournament is an exhibition event which draws the world’s top players due to the record prize money on offer, with Alcaraz acknowledging in 2024 that the financial aspect played a role as he earned $1.5 million over four days.
The attacks have threatened to disrupt sport in the kingdom, with golf’s Asian Tour also saying it is monitoring the security situation ahead of the Saudi International in Riyadh next month.
AFC IN ‘NO HURRY’ TO MAKE DECISION
Saudi Arabia is also set to stage the Asian Cup in soccer for the first time in 2027, a key test ahead of the kingdom’s hosting of the 2034 World Cup.
The 24-team tournament is scheduled to kick off on January 7 across eight venues in three cities – Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Khobar.
AFC president Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said they were in “no hurry to make a decision” on whether to postpone the tournament or not.
“We can wait until the end of November. Things can change very quickly for better or worse in the region and it is question of seeing what happens,” he told reporters in Zurich where the FIFA Council is meeting.
“If we need to make a decision then we will, but we could move back a year to 2028 if we need to. But at the moment we are monitoring the situation and everything is on schedule.”
The 2023 tournament was postponed from June 2023 to July 2024 after China withdrew as hosts due to COVID-19 restrictions and Qatar stepped in to host the tournament in the winter.
Saudi Arabia is also hosting the FIFAe World Cup, an esports tournament series held by world soccer’s governing body FIFA, in Jeddah from October 16-25.
However, the Japan Football Association said it would not participate following a comprehensive assessment of the current situation in the host country and the available information regarding safety and security.
Football Australia also said its security team was monitoring the situation.
Reuters has contacted the AFC and FIFA for comment.
(Reporting by Iain Axon in Zurich and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey, Ed Osmond and Pritha Sarkar)
Comments