NEW DELHI: At a time when Covid restrictions are being eased in India comes the news that the $2 million Hero Indian Open 2022, which was to be held at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram, has been cancelled for a third year running.
For the record, the government on Thursday revised guidelines for international arrivals, removing the category of ‘at risk’ countries – introduced when the Omicron Covid variant emerged – and also recommending self-monitoring of 14 days for symptoms as against the current seven days of home quarantine.
The DP World Tour (European Tour rebadged) confirmed the cancellation as well as the postponement of this season’s Volvo China Open “due to ongoing restrictions associated with the Covid 19 pandemic”.
“After being postponed from its original scheduled date of February 17-20, it had been hoped to reschedule the Hero Indian Open later this Spring, but it will now not take place in 2022. Both Hero and the Indian Golf Union remain fully committed to the tournament, and along with the DP World Tour, are planning for it to return to the Tour’s schedule in 2023,” the DP World declared.
IGU director general, Maj Gen Bibhuti Bhushan (retd), told Times of India that had this decision been announced even a couple of days ago, the organisers would have gone ahead with the event, as originally scheduled. He informed the decision to cancel the tournament was taken on February 8. Bhushan said the majority of the players from Europe weren’t happy about serving the seven-day quarantine period in their hotel rooms ahead of the tournament.
“There was no great clarity about this mandatory 7-day quarantine rule from anywhere. European players weren’t happy about this restriction,” he said, adding that the idea of hosting the tournament in a bio-bubble wasn’t discussed among the stakeholders. “Hosting the tournament in a bio-bubble is a very different kind of thing and the majority of the European players weren’t happy about spending seven days in their hotel rooms. It’s unlikely to have the Indian Open this year. Maybe, we can try to host it in November-December. Otherwise, it will be organised in March next year.”
Meanwhile, the Volvo China Open, which was due to take place from April 28 – May 1, will also not take place as originally scheduled due to ongoing restrictions in China. The DP World Tour will work with Volvo and the China Golf Association to try and find a suitable alternative date, either later in the 2022 season or early in the 2023 season. Further updates on the DP World Tour’s events in April will be made in due course.
