Seems, detractors and those ignorant of India’s ground realities have succeeded in spreading false stories about the country. The World Junior Squash Championship currently on in Chennai has inadvertently become a victim of the propaganda that India is unsafe for women.

Coming at the heels of a recent Reuters-Thomson survey pinning India as the most dangerous country for women, Switzerland’s number one women’s junior squash player deciding to stay away from the Championship that began in Chennai on 18 July and will end 29 July.

Times of India reported that the 16-year-old Swiss junior women’s champ Ambre Allinckx opted not to play in the championship after her parents disallowed her travel to India.

Coach of the Swiss team Pascal Bruhin said Allinckx could have made a mark for herself after having reached the play-off for the third place at the European junior championships.

The development comes on the heels of a couple of foreign tourists being sexually attacked in the last few months.

The coach of the US team, too, said that the parents of the women team were not comfortable in sending their wards to India. The recent Reuters-Thomson survey based on some individuals view that India was the most dangerous country for women seem to have done the damage. The survey didn’t give any details of those who were surveyed and their specialisations.

An earlier report from National Crime Archives found Chennai as the safest city for women in India among six major ones including Delhi and Mumbai. The number of crimes against women reported in Chennai is far lower than other cities.