The Hindu : Sport : Kalmadi plays down dress code controversy

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Kalmadi plays down dress code controversy

Special Correspondent

BEIJING: The Indian athletes may have been just warming up for the challenges ahead, but the focus was on their dress, as the Indian media cornered the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Suresh Kalmadi, in an interaction, here on Saturday.

The issue was the glaring aspect of the Indian women tennis players Sania Mirza and Sunitha Rao sporting track-suits instead of traditional sarees or any other dress specially designed for the march past during the Opening Ceremony on Friday.

“Everybody had been given their dress. The two had returned from their practice and there was no time. The Chef de Mission (K. Murugan) was caught in a dilemma and could not leave out Sania as questions would have been raised about her absence,” said Kalmadi, who added that sarees of different colours had been given to the athletes to make the group look colourful.

Kalmadi also revealed that the number of officials was restricted to six and they also marched as per the order stipulated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), with only the Chef de Mission in the front row, along with the athletes behind the flag-bearer.

He said that there was no question of re-entering weightlifter Monica Devi in the competition after her name had been withdrawn following a report from the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

However, it is understood that a request was made to the Organising Committee to re-activate her entry.

Not perturbed by the slow start made by the Indians in the Games, the shooters in particular, Kalmadi said that it was not right to expect any great performances without having backed the athletes professionally in the run-up to the Games.

“Now the Government has released Rs. 700 crore for the preparations of the athletes for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The results will be seen in the next Olympics in London in 2012,” he said.

The blame game seems to have begun even before the first day of competition was over.

Kalmadi also talked about having a meeting with the Union Sports Ministry to enhance the budget for the 2010 Games so as to have an indoor velodrome for cycling.

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