The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Chief Minister's Cup inaugurated

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Chief Minister's Cup inaugurated

V. V. Subrahmanyam

Air show delayed as eagles fly over venue and give anxious moments to organisers

HYDERABAD: Where eagles dare? Well, this is not a reference to the famous Hollywood movie of yesteryears. But, this is exactly what happened at the inaugural of the Chief Minister's Cup State-level sports meet for boys and girls (under 19) at Lal Bahadur Stadium on Saturday morning. Even as the dignitaries, headed by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, were all excited to have a glance at the air show by the Armed Forces to mark the inauguration, the choppers were forced to take a detour since a large number of eagles were exactly flying over the venue even as security ring was thrown around the venue at ground level. After quite a bit of nervous moments for the organisers, the show did go on. But it was apparent that the eagles kept at bay the choppers, raising quite a few eyebrows. And unfortunately, even the tricolour formation by the Air Force personnel as the last segment went haywire as only one of them landed in the middle of the venue as desired while the other two went off track and landed on the adjacent Nizam College stretch. Interestingly, top cops too were among the dignitaries having a helpless look at the eagles. Then the big question. Is such pomp needed for a State-level sports meet? According to estimates prepared by the event managers, the cost of hosting the opening and closing ceremonies and the stars' cricket match (on Saturday itself) is close to Rs. 1.53 croresThe bottomline is that because of his hectic schedule and delay in the organisers' part to get the torch towards the VIP lounge, the Chief Minister could not receive it. Well, the athletes were left wondering whether they were not paid incentives for winning laurels in this cup!

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