Bangalore, this is just not done

Tuesday turned into Bangalore’s day of shame with the opening ceremony of the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) games showing a disgraceful side of Indian sports organisation. With around 1,000 elite international disabled athletes, officials and delegates attending the event, the Sree Kanteerava Stadium presented a picture of chaos and utter disregard for the needs of the disabled athletes hailing from 43 countries.

In fact, so poor was the planning of the hosting organisation Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) that the wheelchair-bound deputy president of IWAS couldn’t ascend to the VIP dais because there was no ramp. He had to be lifted up the stairs by a few people. A furious Maura Strange, IWAS executive director, who was a shocked witness to the spectacle, commented tersely: “This is ridiculous. He is the deputy president!”

IWAS technical director Jan Bockweg, who visited Bangalore thrice this year to provide details on preparation of the venues, was so upset that he threatened to return home on Monday.  “Why is Bangalore, or the state of Karnataka, or India not proud to present themselves as a well-organised city, state and country? A lot of the people who are here will be  at the Commonwealth Games. They will tell this story back home,” he said.

Bockweg blasted the PCI: “They do nothing. The wrong people are in the wrong place.

You need workers, not political people. They promise a lot. You cannot trust their word. The only thing I’m doing now is chasing, chasing, chasing.”

International delegates were upset that no protocol was followed, right from the time they landed in Bangalore. Many of the 43 participating teams weren’t assigned liaison officers, due to which disabled athletes and coaches were aimlessly moving about at the venue wondering how they would travel to and from their hotel.

In fact, Maura Strange herself wasn’t assigned a vehicle to her hotel until 4pm, when the opening ceremony was about to start! With many of the delegates and athletes due to participate in the Commonwealth Games at New Delhi, the event could not have started on a worse footing.

It is no accident that the PCI has stumbled so badly during the opening ceremony. The PCI is led by a politician, senior vice-president of JD(S) state unit Rathan Singh, and the build-up to the event has been characterised by utter indifference to its scale. Although the PCI won the bid for the games in 2007, no work was done at the venues until a week ago. Having suddenly realised that the games were round the corner, the PCI started
readying disabled-friendly toilets and ramps at the stadium only five days ago.

The action will begin on Wednesday and will last a week. It will require a miracle for the events to proceed smoothly. Whether the athletes will return with pleasant memories is another question.