Sport - Asian Games   

Oh, for proper planning!

By V. V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD OCT. 20. In their anxiety to present a grand opening ceremony, the people involved in the preparations seem to have forgotten that they have been tampering with the playing arena at the GMC Balayogi Stadium, the original venue of athletics and football events.

Huge trenches dug up across the football venue presented a pathetic sight a couple of days ago. S. P. Singh, IAS and Convenor of the Ceremonial Committee, insisted that the safety of the youngsters performing on the arena during the opening function was paramount as long and heavy cable lines would have posed a problem irrespective of the covers put on top of the surface.

It has been accepted that whatever little hope the Games Technical Conduct Committee had of organising football has now vanished into thin air. The old Goshamahal Stadium is getting spruced up and even the technical delegate of the Asian Football Confederation was reluctant to give the green signal immediately.

"Goshamahal ground is okay but needs improvement and that is the reason we have decided not to host matches on the first two days to give enough time for the improvements," the delegate said.

The GMC venue looks much better now with the `trenches' duly covered up. But it is still not good enough to convince the AFC officials to host the football matches there. The damage has already been done though one can't assess the actual cost.

The logic is simple: when the organisers are spending Rs. 15 crores for the opening and closing ceremonies, these `minor' things can always be brushed aside.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Science & Tech | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

Cricket

• Laxman keeps the Kiwis at bay
• A memorable evening
• Ganguly's stay in hospital extended
• Laxman and Chopra get a pat from Dravid
• Badani replaces Ganguly
• Akram turns commentator
• A moral victory for New Zealand
  
  Hockey
  
• Xaxa nets five including a hat-trick
  
  Asian Games
  
• 314-member African contingent arrives
• Oh, for proper planning!
• Naidu pleased with hockey venue
• Football postponed by a day
  
  Athletics
  
• Fifteen meet records set
  
  Chess
  
• Barua clinches crown
  
  Sports : General
  
• Commonwealth Games bid: Delhi woos with freebies
  
  

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu