At 2.45 p.m. Indonesia time, the Indian presence at the 18th Asian Games was formally recognised with the Indian flag officially going up at the Athletes Village in Jakarta on Thursday, a day after the officials and athletes put up smaller versions on their own on the occasion of Independence Day.
Attended by a handful of coaching staff from a few sports including wrestling, the bulk of Indian presence was marked by the men’s hockey team that turned out in full force.
Not surprising, given the special emphasis coach Harendra Singh puts on both patriotism and the symbolism of it.
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Proud moment
“It is a proud moment for all of us and unless there is a genuine reason for it, I feel we should be there to see the flag go up. It makes the entire experience so much more real at such multi-discipline games,” Harendra said.
Attended by the Indian chef-de-mission Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and his deputies R.K. Sacheti and D.K. Singh, the ceremony also saw an exchange of mementos between host Indonesia and the visiting nations. Qatar, Myanmar and Tajikistan were the other nations to raise their flags alongside India.
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No press attache
It was a surprise when the list of officials submitted by the IOA did not include a press attache for the Games, specially since four deputy chef-de-missions have been named — two each for both Jakarta and Palembang. The absence is being felt already.
A meeting by the organisers and the OCA on Thursday to brief NOC media officials saw India go unrepresented. The meeting was about distribution of media tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies but no one in the Indian contingent was even aware of it. No one knew of the process either.
“Is there a separate process and ticket for the opening and closing even for media? Let me check up, I have no idea,” a delegation official said.
Another advised to buy them online but then said he would check up when told there is a quota of media tickets for every NOC.
This is the first time the Indian contingent is travelling without any press attache who acts not just as the official liaison between the contingent and the travelling media but also helps facilitate interactions with athletes and officials on important issues.
The Indian handball teams were the first to reach the city and check into the athletes village on August 11. They will be among the last to leave the place, on September 1.
This, despite their competitive outing being all but over after losing their first two matches so far.
While the men only have one more preliminary game left, against Iraq, the women have two with neither in with a chance to register any upsets.
While the women have never won a game since participating for the first time in 2006, the men have a better record — they have won a grand total of three matches in their four appearances.
“We will be staying on for the classification matches, they are also important,” a team official said, in all seriousness.
The handball teams’ inclusion had been controversial even before they travelled but the team clearly couldn’t care less.