The Hindu : Sport : Doha decked up for sports fiesta

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 30, 2006
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Doha decked up for sports fiesta

Kamesh Srinivasan

DOHA: The Games of your life! That is the promise, as the colourful banners scream from every side, as you drive from the airport into the city. Will the promise hold good? No doubt, the place is all decked up, never mind the construction work that strikes a jarring note near every beautiful structure, but the spirit is missing.

The warmth of the host was missing, albeit the fabulous setting. The baggage took an hour to arrive into the Asian Games terminal. There were a few other teething problems including the one in communication system.

People from all around the world have been doing a great job to make it a memorable experience for one and all, but the locals have been a bit rude, as they may have been feeling like foreigners themselves in their own land for lack of sufficient involvement.

Olympics silver medallist Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, training here for the last two days and tuning his gun for the big trophy missing in his cupboard, expressed the same thought in a quick chat.

"Everything looks dry, like the sand here. Probably it is because the city is not fully involved in it. Some of the local people have been extremely rude to us and that is very sad. We have already registered our protest," said Rathore after a training session.

However, Rathore took it in his stride to focus on the training despite being hurt. He has been working hard and felt that the form was possibly picking up as he has not been in peak performance-level of late.

"Hopefully, I am on the upswing. Asian Games does mean a lot to everyone. Yet, it is another competition. It's nice to get back with the rest of the fraternity. Perfection is something that you persevere all your life," said Rathore.

Rathore had finished 12th in the last Asian Games at Busan, but has come a long way since then.

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