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Fans left stranded by ticket tumult
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 05/12/2008 10:51 AM | Sports
OUT OF LUCK: Hundreds of would-be spectators mill around in front of the ticket office after being told tickets for the Thomas and Uber Cup matches on Sunday were sold out.
The opening day of the Thomas and Uber Cup tournament was disappointing for some home fans, who faced a sold out sign at the ticket box at Bung Karno Sports Hall on Sunday.
Hundreds of people arrived at the venue to learn tickets were no longer available, even after organizers distributed 2,500 tickets, which, according to an official, Linda Wahyudi, was nearly double the original allocation of 1,500.
A 20-year-old Nindi said she was disappointed that organizers did not make it clear that the public could start buying tickets on Saturday afternoon, after she was told to buy them on the day of the matches.
"Where did they announce that information? I always read the newspaper and search the Internet but I didn't see anything about that," she said.
She added that this year's tournament had been poorly organized unlike previous badminton competitions.
"I always got tickets for higher prices during the 2004 Uber and Thomas Cups here," she said.
Businessman Harjono promised that he and his family would not watch the remaining matches after he was unable to buy tickets for the first day.
"I prefer to watch the games on television," the 52 year old, who had traveled from Tangerang on Sunday afternoon to ensure he secured some seats to watch his "national heroes", said.
"I hoped that I could cheer the players so that they could win the games," he said.
"I have no problems with the prices as long as I can support the Uber and Thomas Cups teams," he said.
Organizer Linda said the extra ticket release was supposed to meet public demand for seats.
"We had hoped that it could calm people down who were coming to watch this event today," she said.
"We have to print more tickets again tonight to replace the tickets we have used today," she said, adding that there might be a large demand for tickets to Monday's matches.
The stadium holds 8,500 seats, but the committee had initially provided only 2,500 tickets for each of the first two days. Tickets are sold between Rp 20,000 (US$2.1) and Rp 50,000 each for the preliminary round.
With 1,000 tickets allocated free to former athletes, sponsors and officials, only 1,500 tickets are available to the public, after the event committee predicted there would be little interest in the preliminary matches.
Linda said for Sunday's games, organizers sold some 1,200 tickets on Saturday evening and the other 300 tickets on Sunday morning.
For today's matches, 900 tickets had already been released at 4 p.m. on Sunday, while the remaining 600 will be sold this morning.
The organizers will provide 6,000 tickets from the quarterfinals phase on Tuesday up to the final on Sunday. Tickets can also be bought using credit cards. (ind/ewd)
