Workers packing up some of the equipment at the King of Tennis stage in Esplanade.

GEORGE TOWN (Nov 12, 2008) : The state government will carefully study privately-organised projects before endorsing them, state tourism development, culture, arts and heritage committee chairman Law Heng Kiang said today.

This follows the failure of the Asean Cultural Centre event at the Pesta site, and the cancellation of the Kings of Tennis event, scheduled to be held at the Esplanade from Friday to Sunday.

Law said incidents like these will reflect badly on the state government.

He said the state had merely endorsed the Kings of Tennis event but was not a sponsor or co-organiser.

"We did all we could to help the event organiser. We waived the RM2 million deposit they would need to pay to use the Esplanade field and offered them a special rental rate," he said.

Law said it was regrettable that the event had been cancelled as it would have provided a boost for tourism in the state.

"The organising co-chairman, Arianna Teoh, called me last night (Tuesday) and assured me the event is still on, so we have to wait and see if it is," he said.

Event producer Kings of Tennis, a group of entrepreneurs based in Sweden, said in a press statement on Tuesday it had been cancelled because the organiser could not provide the players the funds.

The event was to have included such big names as Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Ilie Nastase, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Marcelo Rios and Roy Emerson.

Attempts to contact Teoh were unsuccessful.

Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) president Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman said the rental of RM200,000 had yet to be paid.

The Esplanade field was ruined due to the construction  of the stage for the now-cancelled Kings of Tennis event.

Yesterday, workers were seen packing up some equipment on the stage but most of them said they had not been told what to do.

While some fans expressed disappointment that the event had been cancelled, others hoped the Esplanade field would not be damaged.

Kate Lim, 65, criticised the state government for allowing the organiser to construct a makeshift tennis court and stands on the field in Padang Kota.

"I am a die-hard tennis fan but I do not agree with the use of this field for the event," she said.

Lim said she suspected the event would be a failure from the start and had bought tickets to watch the Showdown of Champions in Kuala Lumpur – featuring such players like Roger Federer and James Blake – which is not connected with Kings of Tennis.

Gerakan Tanjung youth chief H’ng Khoon Leng said the state government had not given enough support to the event organiser.

"If it had helped the organiser in publicising the event and given more moral support, perhaps the organiser may have raised enough funds to pay the producer for the players to come," he said.

"We welcome this event to be held here and we are disappointed to hear that it has been cancelled."

Tennis fan Abdul Wahab Hamid, 51, who bought a ticket to watch the event on Tuesday, was also disappointed over the cancellation.

He hopes to get a refund from the organiser.