Bee Swarm Panic: Players Flee in Terror at Bengaluru W100k Event

Bengaluru:

Within a day after an umpire died during a U13 cricket match in Unnao due to a bee attack, a similar sort of dramatic incident took place in Bengaluru. During a W100k Tennis event in Bengaluru, players and staff were seen running for their lives during the match when a massive swarm of bees invaded the court.

The incident took place during the first set of the match between the top seed, Talia Gibson, and India’s Sahaja Yamalapalli. A ball boy first spotted the swarm approaching from the side of the court. He alerted the players and within seconds, a thick cloud of bees descended onto the playing area. 

Watch the viral video here:

In the video that has gone viral, both Gibson and Sahaja could be seen dropping their rackets and sprinting towards their locker rooms. The chair umpire and the ball boys also followed suit, abandoning the court for some time. The match was suspended for around 290-30 minutes, and the security and the ground staff had to ensure the area was safe for the players to return to the court.

The incident brought back the memories of the famous ‘Bee Invasion’ at Indian Wells in 2024 during the match between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, which was delayed for nearly two hours.

Coming back to the incident that took place in W100k in Bengaluru, the match was played at the SM Krishna Stadium, and it is located inside Cubbon Park, which has over 8000 trees.

Easy win for Gibson after resumption of play

However, a break in play didn’t stop Gibson from dominating the game, as she didn’t let her Indian opponent win a single game. She won the match in straight sets – 6-0, 6-0 – to storm into the quarterfinals. As many as six Indian players participated in the competition and only one of them has managed to qualify for the quarterfinal round.

Vaishnavi Adkar, a wild card entry, defeated her fellow Indian Shruti Ahlawat in the first round before getting the better of the eighth seeded Mai Hontama of Japan in a three-set thriller. Vaishnavi will face fourth seeded Taylah Preston of Australia in the quarterfinal on the centre court at 12 PM on Friday.

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