“Ticket wanted,” read a slip of paper eagerly brandished by a journalist in front of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium metro station an hour ahead of the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony here on Sunday. .
Nearby a group of four German students stood in the middle of the road waving pieces of paper with “Tickets wanted” scrawled on them. This was the general mood as scores of citizens and tourists milled around the stadium and made a last minute attempt to buy tickets for the opening ceremony of the Games.
While there were seekers galore, a few appeared willing to part with their tickets. One such exception was Anirudh Juneja: “I have a ticket worth Rs.25,000 which I want to sell. It is too expensive and I won't be able to sit with my friends who have tickets for other boxes. I do not mind watching the ceremony on TV in a restaurant. The tickets are rather expensive and could have been priced more reasonably,” he said.
As the area teemed with spectators, many had a tough time entering the stadium since security personnel were trying to keep away crowd at the gates. Strict security arrangements also resulted in a three-member official delegation from Cameroon being denied entry.
“This is embarrassing. We are official members of the Cameroon delegation. Yet we have been denied entry on the grounds that we do not have appropriate accreditation,” a visibly irked member said.
Further, a lack of signposts to the various entry gates caused uncertainty among spectators who were clueless regarding where to go. At hand were only a few beleaguered volunteers for guidance. For 15 minutes, security personnel blocked entry for a large number of people who gathered outside Gate No. 14 for entry. However, citizens appeared to take these hiccups in their stride and turned out in jovial spirits to enjoy the opening ceremony.
Smartly attired men, women and children thronged to the stadium eager to be part of the inaugural ceremony of one of the biggest sporting events to be held in the country in recent times. A large number of spectators chose to use the Delhi Metro to commute to the stadium.
