Disco nights - a big hit in Games Village (Games Sidelights)

NEW DELHI - The players may be saving on energy by giving the Games Village rock shows a miss, but they are not letting the discotheque go empty! Many can seen shaking a leg at the disco.

“The disco has been a major hit and we have close to 200-300 people visiting every night on rotation. They don’t even let us close it on time and are even demanding that the timings be stretched,” a volunteer told IANS.

The disco runs from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m and can accommodate 100 people at a time.

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Wrestling on song

When Rajender Kumar thrashed his Pakistani counterpart Azhar Hussain at the Indira Gandhi sports complex to lift the gold for India, many in the audience broke into an impromptu dance.

Guess which Bollywood number boomed in the background: “Oye Lucky Lucky Oye..”!

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Earplugs please

Indians winning gold in shooting events may be a pleasant sight, but the shots may not be as pleasant for the ears. Spectators at the Karni Singh Shooting Range have been told to carry earplugs along. Reason: the noise could be quite deafening.

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Not even cops can stop vuvuzelas

At the hockey match between India and Malaysia Tuesday, there were many who wanted to carry vuvuzelas inside the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. But policemen stopped them.

To everyone’s surprise, the policemen took out a page of 10 instructions for the crowd to see whether vuvuzelas were allowed. As there was no mention of it, they called the volunteers. Finally, it was found that there was no restriction on the bugles.

So when the Indians won, guess what could be heard loud and clear - the vuvuzelas, of course.

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All men but no play

The Indian men’s table tennis team came out in the morning to play their group tie against Dominica but got a walk over as their opponent failed to find a third player required for the competition.

The Indian paddlers certainly could have made better use of their time as they had travelled from the Games Village to the Yamuna Sports Complex only to play the match. The match ended before it could start.

“The Dominica team did not turn up for the last match. We knew it would happen against India as well but we had to follow the protocol of physically calling both the teams and then declaring the winner. That is the normal procedure,” an organising committee official told IANS.

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Phone and Games

The phone shop at the international zone of the Games Village is buzzing with demands for mobile recharge and Indian SIM cards. The visiting sportsmen are making up for the distance from their loved ones through cell phones.

While SIMs take close to two days to get activated, prepaid vouchers are quicker and therefore selling like hot cakes.

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Dream come true

Volunteers doing a lot of running around for the nation’s mega event won’t be disappointed. They will be awarded certificates in the end for their contribution.

“All volunteers have done a great job and at the end of the Games, you will get a certificate from us. That will be your sense of realisation,” said Suresh Kalmadi, chairman, organising committee.