Comedy of errors at C'Wealth Shooting opening

Fumbling officials and organisational chaos marked the opening of the Commonwealth Shooting Championships today where IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi stunned one and all by conceding that there are bound to "be some security lapses" in mega events like these.

Inaugurated by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, the function turned out to be a comedy of errors where the mike malfunctioned at the most inopportune times, most jarringly when Commonwealth Games' multiple gold medallist pistol shooter Samresh Jung took the competitors' oath.

As Jung read out the oath, flanked by star trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu, the poor sound system blurred out a part of the oath.

Security personnel outnumbered the 146 shooters -- 46 of whom Indian -- at the ceremony, also attended by Commonwealth Shooting Federation chief Graham Hudson, IOA secretary general Randhir Singh, Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper and officials from the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI).

A demonstration on sports casualty management had the sparse audience in splits as shooters were shown a skit on how injuries are dealt with on a hockey field, prompting Hudson to say, "It's so reassuring to see that medical help is at hand but we have quicker ways to deal with injuries in shooting." But the faux pas by Kalmadi, also the CWG Organising Committee chief, took the cake.

"There would be some security lapse here and there but everybody would be safe. All the foreign athletes are very happy with the security," he claimed.

Among other things he said, Kalmadi once again insisted that the infrastructure would be ready well in time for the Commonwealth Games in October.

"All the infrastructure would be ready in time. A few days here and there but it would all be world class. The Games Village would be better than the one we saw in the Beijing Olympics," he said.

The NRAI, embroiled in a court case over the tenure of its officials, chose to introduce its newly-appointed

President Avatar Singh Sethi as a Competition Manager.

Singh didn't even find a place on dais where now former former President Digvijay Singh sat in capacity of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) vice-President alongside Randhir and Dikshit.

Speaking on the tournament, Hudson said despite the many hiccups it has experienced in the past few months, the event would be a success.

"Obviously there is a lot of work to be done but once it is complete, this complex would be like any other in the world. The facilities here are the very latest and this would be a great test event for the Commonwealth Games.

The competition starts tomorrow and the tournament would conclude on February 27. Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra couldn't make the Indian team for the tourney after failing to turn up for the trials last year.