Hyderabad: Nothing, absolutely nothing, is being left to chance at the Gopichand academy in Hyderabad as it is the practice venue for the World Badminton Championship.
Every team member and official is frisked. The players say they understand it is all being done with a purpose.
"It is for our own safety to have the scanners when we enter the hall and enter the hotels. So it does not bother me at all," said Mathias Boe, a badminton player from Denmark.
"We won't do anything different. We will be focusing on the games and trying to win them and then will see what the Indian security says and follow up on that instead of worrying and think of different ways," said Jonassen, coach, Denmark badminton team.
Hyderabad is one of the three cities, along with Delhi and Kolkata, where there is an Intelligence Bureau alert of a terror strike in the week leading up to Independence Day.
With 340 international players and over 100 officials in Hyderabad for the championship, the police does not want to take any chances.
"There is absolutely no specific threat. Whatever general alerts that are there probably in view of Independence Day, such alert spread are there," said K Durga Prasad, president, AP Badminton Association.
Security experts say should anything go wrong, India's image as a safe destination for sporting events will come under a cloud -- something the country can't afford, especially an year before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.