All the Commonwealth Games test events have one common thread -- chaos. The Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) Complex is the latest to test its facilities at the R.K.Khanna Stadium and here, too, things have gone haywire.
All the Commonwealth Games test events have one common thread -- chaos. The Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) Complex is the latest to test its facilities at the R.K.Khanna Stadium and here, too, things have gone haywire.
The worst culprits are the security personnel who have been given instructions that defy logic and commonsense. They have been told that nothing should be allowed into the stadium, not even flasks with cold water in the searing summer heat. And there is no guarantee whether the expensive containers will be returned if deposited with the security staff.
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The event is for juniors, the Asian Tennis Championships, which began here Monday and is essentially to see if things are in shape for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games.
The stadium itself is incomplete and everything is hastily arranged. The door knobs are coming off, a makeshift canopy covers the stands at Courts No. 3 and 4. Worse, the floodlights on the centre court blinked on the opening day, resulting in the postponement of eight matches to Tuesday. The scoreboards wouldn't work.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Hooper told IANS that the glitches would be taken care of.
"It is unfortunate that the floodlights went off. Such things happen during the test event. The problem has been identified and we are working to rectify it."
"I was there last night and AITA secretary Anil Khanna told me that finishing touches in the stadium are yet to be given and that it will be ready by the end of June."
Like at all the test events, the security personnel successfully chased the spectators off, making the life of a few diehard fans and even the parents of the players miserable.
At the Indira Gandhi Stadium, which hosted the Asian wrestling championship earlier this month, the cops shooed away the world wrestling federation (FILA) officials and even threatened the journalists when they came out in support.
There was no respite for journalists here also.
Sample this: One of the scribes was asked to consume his medicine there and then during the security check. The exasperated reporter asked the cop to keep the medicine if it could be of any help to him.
The security men went berserk Tuesday as one of their colleagues was suspended after he was found slack Monday. The security pointed to the a list of 31 items not allowed inside the stadiums, even for the accreditated persons.
The parents of the young competitors, too, have not been spared. The parents, lugging their wards' kits, had a harrowing time. None of them has either been accredited or issued an entry card. They had to manage a pass to sit in the stands.
"But that also doesn't make things any easier. We have been given a pass on which the the times of play have been written. The morning session card is from 9.30 a.m. to 12 p.m. But the match referee has rescheduled my son's match to 1 p.m. as they had to complete the backlog. But the police refused to hear me out when I arrived for the afternoon session. The AITA officials had to be called to bail me out," a player's mother told IANS.
"There is no coordination between AITA and police officials. It's been such a terrible time for the parents."
Another player's mother was not amused at a cop's sense of humour: "Monday I was not allowed to carry my purse and today I did not carry it and the official asked me mischievously where is your purse today?"
"There are no arrangements for the parents. It would have been nice if they had at least provided clean, drinking water as the police are not allowing us to carry water bottles. Interestingly, the policemen inside the stadium were seen smuggling the water and food for themselves yesterday, but there is nobody to stop them," she said.
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