Amidst confusion, organisers hope for a good show
February 5, 2016, Guwahati, DHNS
Hosting a multi-nation multi-discipline sporting event at the South Asian Games level at just three months’ notice is no joke. Despite the herculean challenge at their hands, the Sports Ministry chose to stage the eight-nation regional sporting event at Guwahati and Shillong, hoping to pull off a fine show.
With just a day left for the opening ceremony, however, problems were still evident. The Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here was struggling to cope with sudden flow of passengers, some athletes were finding it difficult to find their hotel, venues were still being readied for the big occasion, vast majority of the volunteers were getting their accreditation cards printed until evening, the main press centre wasn’t functioning yet.
Sports Authority of India Director-General and 12th SAG CEO Injeti Srinivas, addressing an expectedly feisty press conference, said he believed the Games would be a success. “Staging a South Asian Games in 90 days’ time is not an easy affair. But we’ve done a commendable job in the short time frame. Normally in multi-discipline events, there would be a Games Village that would host all the athletes. At this Games though we had to accommodate all the athletes and technical officials in 90 hotels.
“Arranging that is a complex task but we’ve got that under control. Another key thing ahead of any Games is preparedness. The overall state of the venues, field of play and scoring system, all of this is in order. There were teething problems but we’ve resolved it. We conducted some test events and we found no problem whatsoever.”
A major worry was security but Srinivas said all bases regarding that has been covered. “All security issues have been addressed. The hotels where teams have been put up have adequate security personnel posted. Dog squads, bomb squads and special forces have been deployed at all venues. In short, all arrangements for the safety of the athletes have been taken care of.”
Srinivas failed to throw much light on Friday’s opening ceremony that will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We are yet to take a call on India’s flag-bearer. The opening ceremony is a very important but we were given a very tight budget. It won’t be an extraordinary ceremony but it will be one which promotes the cultural spirit of Guwahati and Shillong.”
With just a day left for the opening ceremony, however, problems were still evident. The Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here was struggling to cope with sudden flow of passengers, some athletes were finding it difficult to find their hotel, venues were still being readied for the big occasion, vast majority of the volunteers were getting their accreditation cards printed until evening, the main press centre wasn’t functioning yet.
Sports Authority of India Director-General and 12th SAG CEO Injeti Srinivas, addressing an expectedly feisty press conference, said he believed the Games would be a success. “Staging a South Asian Games in 90 days’ time is not an easy affair. But we’ve done a commendable job in the short time frame. Normally in multi-discipline events, there would be a Games Village that would host all the athletes. At this Games though we had to accommodate all the athletes and technical officials in 90 hotels.
“Arranging that is a complex task but we’ve got that under control. Another key thing ahead of any Games is preparedness. The overall state of the venues, field of play and scoring system, all of this is in order. There were teething problems but we’ve resolved it. We conducted some test events and we found no problem whatsoever.”
A major worry was security but Srinivas said all bases regarding that has been covered. “All security issues have been addressed. The hotels where teams have been put up have adequate security personnel posted. Dog squads, bomb squads and special forces have been deployed at all venues. In short, all arrangements for the safety of the athletes have been taken care of.”
Srinivas failed to throw much light on Friday’s opening ceremony that will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We are yet to take a call on India’s flag-bearer. The opening ceremony is a very important but we were given a very tight budget. It won’t be an extraordinary ceremony but it will be one which promotes the cultural spirit of Guwahati and Shillong.”
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