On Sunday, Tennis legend Roger Federer was stopped by a security guard in a hallway outside a locker room at the Australian Open 2019 tournament as he was not carrying his identity card. In the clip, the guard is seen indicating to Federer that he was missing his Australian Open accreditation pass. He stood patiently, waiting until he was joined by members of his entourage. That’s when he was allowed to proceed and go through the door.
A similar incident happened with former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly in the past when he was denied entry to Eden Gardens cricket stadium for not carrying his ID. The incident happened in October 2011. Ganguly, who was doing his maiden commentary assignment at the Eden Gardens for the host television broadcaster during the India-England one day series, was stopped by an anti-corruption unit (ACU) official of the International Cricket Council (ICC) when he was entering the ground for the pitch report before the start of the game.
The ACU official Dharmender Singh Yadav asked him “Who are you?” to which a startled Ganguly reportedly replied “I’m Sourav Ganguly, going for the pitch report”. However, Yadav was not impressed and asked for his identity card, which Ganguly was not carrying then as he had left it at the commentary box. Ganguly had to walk back to the commentary box, get his card and then only Yadav allowed him into the ground.