Bengaluru, Apr 14 (IANS): The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) on Wednesday suspended all tennis tournaments across the state due to the rising number of positive Covid-19 cases in the state. No tournaments will be played between April 17 and May 31.

"At KSLTA, the safety of the players is of utmost importance. We do not want to take a risk with the health of our players and hence we thought it was better to cancel the existing events and postpone all the tournaments to be organised by the KSLTA and all the other tournaments held under the aegis of AITA (All India Tennis Association) and KSLTA," said KSLTA joint secretary Sunil Yajaman.

"However, training and practice will be held while following the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) guidelines," he added.

The KSLTA has also requested all the academies, which may not be under the aegis of the AITA or KSLTA, to avoid hosting private tournaments as the health and safety of players "is most important at this juncture".

KSLTA was one of the first associations in the country to reintroduce competitive tournaments after the first wave of Covid-19 in January and, keeping the overall aim of growth and development of the sport in mind, had sanctioned affiliated clubs and academies to organise an average of six tournaments per month.