JOIN USAs wrestler Sushil Kumar led in the Indian contingent into the stadium for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games here on Friday, he wasn’t the sole show-stopper on view.
A woman dressed in red shirt and green trousers walked alongside Sushil, cheerfully joining in the party meant for athletes and basking in the limelight.
The Indian media personnel wondered who she was, but they weren’t the only ones to be stumped by the lady in red.The country’s officials themselves were equally clueless about the woman, with the contingent’s acting chef de mission Brig P K Muralidharan Raja stating they would lodge a complaint with the organisers on the issue.
“We have no idea who she is and we are quite upset about it. How can a person who is not even part of our contingent join us in the march past? We have been embarrassed in front of the whole nation,” said Raja. “While all the athletes are allowed for the parade, only a specific number of officials are given permission. Our quota was 14 and nobody else was part of our team,” he said. “We had walked in from the Athletes’ Village and were set to enter the stadium. This woman was standing along with the contingent in front of us and as we started walking in, she slowly walked backwards and joined us. There was nothing we could do.”
The woman walked with the team and then quickly disappeared, leaving a trail of questions behind, the most important being security. “We are concerned by the fact that a person with no accreditation managed to sneak in and walk along with our team. We will express that in our letter to the organisers,” said Raja. “It is up to them to investigate it.”
India has fielded a contingent of 81 and about 40 athletes took part in the ceremony that kicked off the Games.