Unpleasant welcome for Del Piero

It wasn't a pleasant welcome for Italian football star Alessandro del Piero as his first official media interaction Friday had to be held in a parking lot after his franchise Delhi Dynamos failed to find a proper place.

The Juventus star, however, gladly obliged the media and the shutterbugs at the parking lot of the Delhi University Stadium for nearly 15 minutes in heat and humidity. What made matters worse was that the luxury sedan carrying the Italian star was not allowed entry from another gate of the stadium as he headed for the practice session.

"We had to change the change the venue of media interaction at the last minute and then the stadium authorities didn't grant us permission to host the press conference inside the venue citing security issues. It was really disappointing," a member of the franchise told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

The media interaction was scheduled at Faculty of Social Work in Delhi University, some 500 metres away from the Delhi University Stadium, where the team is training. But at the last moment it was shifted to the stadium, where Delhi Dynamos, who kept the media waiting for nearly an hour, were denied permission to hold a media interaction citing security issues.