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Bride Alla Ouvarova with groom Murray Chapples |
Wedding smiles from daughter of tennis coach in park tragedy
‘It was hard because of the whole thing of the father giving the bride away’
WITH the death of her father still painfully fresh in her mind, it has been the toughest period of Alla Ouvarova’s life. But she finally had reason to smile on Sunday when she walked down the aisle to marry fiancé Murray Chapples.
For the 26-year-old, it was one of the happiest days of her life but she could not help thinking of her father, Russian tennis coach Yuri Ouvarov, who was found hanged from a tree in Regent’s Park last month.
The newly-weds, who are expecting their first child later this year, married at the 150-year-old Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Kensington.
Ms Ouvarova was given away by her brother Michael, 24.
She said: “Of course, it was hard because there is the whole thing of the father giving the bride away. It was very difficult, but we did enjoy the day.”
Mr Ouvarov, 53, was found dead close to the Regent’s Park Golf and Tennis School, near London Zoo, on December 12. He had worked as a head coach at the school for 15 years until it was controversially shut in March last year.
His family said Mr Ouvarov was devastated by the closure. They believe the decision by the Royal Parks Agency to terminate the school’s lease left him devastated and in despair.
At Mr Ouvarov’s funeral at Hendon Cemetery, friends and family said the death was a “clear statement” against the school’s closure. His wife maintained: “They took away his life.”
He had coached TV presenter Des Lynam and actress Amanda Holden, and was well known in tennis circles, where he had met the sport’s top players. The Royal Parks Agency planned to open a five-a-side football complex on the site, but the proposals were thrown out at a council meeting in Westminster on the night Mr Ouvarov’s body was found.
His daughter, who runs her own food business in St John’s Wood with her new husband, said she was determined the wedding would go ahead, despite a second tragedy, on January 3, when Mr Chapples’ father died suddenly.
She said: “We have lost two men in the space of three weeks. Murray’s mother and my mother were at the wedding on their own.
“We miss them and I wish they could be with us, but we wanted the wedding to go ahead. We exchanged rings and there was a crowning ceremony where we stood and had crowns held above our heads.
“We held hands and walked in a circle. Then we walked to the back of the church and all the guests came up and congratulated us.”
Campaigners met sport and culture minister Margaret Hodge this week to discuss the possibility of reopening the tennis school.
The school’s owner, Chris Meadows, has called for it to reopen and be named after Mr Ouvarov but the Royal Parks Agency said this week that “there are no plans to reopen the golf and tennis school”. |
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