Shooters get the short shrift

Ace marksmen spend entire night waiting for accommodation

The shooting team landed from Pune, where they have been training for a month in the Belawadi Sports Complex, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 8.30 pm on Saturday night. But they had to wait at the lounge for the pick-up bus till 1.00 am.

When the bus finally arrived, it didn’t have the necessary clearance to take the shooters to the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, where the shooters had to deposit their guns and ammunitions at the depot. However, their ordeal did not end there as the team could not find properly furnished flats in the Village after reaching there at around 3.00 am.

The shooters had to wait nearly two hours to get ready-to-occupy flats in the portion allotted to the Indian contingent. “It was a complete mess and there was total lack of co-ordination. I don’t want to dwell too much into the mess but I had hoped for better management from the authorities and facilities for us in the Village. The end result is that we missed our scheduled practice session today,” Indian shooting coach Prof Sunny Thomas said.

One of the hockey team members concurred with Thomas. “Cleaning work has been going on since our arrival and we can’t sleep or rest properly because of the noise and workers moving around quite frequently,” he said.

Some of the participating nations too complained about the state of their residential blocks. “Our rooms are not clean as many of the bathroom fittings do not work and there is a lot of debris lying all over. We are not able to sleep properly because of the noise,” Abdul Halil, chef de mission of Malaysia, said.

His Botswanian counterpart Tuelo Daniel Seruftho said, “You have spent a lot of money, but the work does not reflect it. A better job could have been done. We have spoken to the authorities, let’s wait and see.”

Meanwhile, the first batch of 80 athletes from Scotland athletes arrived in Delhi on Sunday. The first wave comprised archery, shooting, tennis, lawn bowls and weightlifting teams.