GUWAHATI: The 33rd National Games opened with much fanfare here at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium but the Games' Technical Conduct Committee (GTCC) failed to start some of the day's events due to various reasons. A bomb blast, though innocuous, near the Kamakya Railway Station, well outside the city limits, this morning gave a jolt to those who are here for the 10-day sports festival.

If the main media centre was a picture of chaos, with journalists running in vain from pillar to post to get information on some of the important disciplines, none could throw much light on some of the major events scheduled to begin on Friday. Only football and hockey got off successfully while volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics and tennis have been put off by a day or two.

The volleyball event could not start owing to non-availability of the teraflex courts. Wrestling, however, had a different problem. Forms for weighing-in procedure were not provided to the grapplers on Wednesday.

Consequently, the entire process of programming went haywire. With the wrestlers participating in the opening ceremony on Friday afternoon, it is expected the weighing-in will be done only on Saturday.

Court trouble

A.S.V. Prasad, director, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), informed that the volleyball matches would begin on Saturday morning on wooden courts because the Teraflex courts, being transported from the Bangalore SAI, would reach here only by Saturday night. The courts are expected to be ready by Sunday. The five-day programme has been compressed into four days, as per the revised match schedule. The gymnastic events were also put off because the floor matting and other equipment could not be readied on time.

One of the popular events of any multi-disciplined Games, aquatics, was set to begin on Saturday but some of the officials, when contacted, failed to provide information on the list of participants in fray. Even the programme for the opening day was not available.

Surinder's hat-trick

International Surinder Kaur was in limelight for Haryana with the Games' first hat-trick in the women's hockey at the Maulana Md. Tayabullah Stadium. Playing against Madhya Pradesh in a Group-A game, Haryana pumped in 10 goals without any reply, in which internationals Jasjeet Kaur (2, 31, 42) and Surinder (15, 19, 30) scored three goals each. Rani Devi got two (37, 47), while the third India player Ritu Rani (60) and Simarjeet (67) scored the other goals.

Maharashtra upset Orissa 1-0 in the group's other match.

Delhi outclassed Assam 4-0 in Group-B while Jharkhand walloped Uttar Pradesh 6-0, with goals coming from Pushpa Pradhan (2, 37), Lorensia Kerketta (23, 36), Anima Soren (48th) and India captain Jyoti Sunita Kullu (66).

Men's hockey begins on Saturday with four matches. Delhi, Assam, Punjab and Tamil Nadu are in one group while the other group has Services, Maharashtra, Orissa and Chandigarh.

Tamil Nadu, which is taking on Delhi in its first outing, has put in a request to the GTCC to reschedule the match for the afternoon because three of its key players — Muthukumar, Saravanakumar and Rajnikanth — will be reaching only in the morning and will miss the contest.

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