Offtrack

An anonymous phone call claiming that a bomb has been placed inside the Commonwealth Games Village put security agencies on high alert.

Bomb threat fails to shake Village
An anonymous phone call claiming that a bomb has been placed inside the Commonwealth Games Village put security agencies on high alert,but it was found to be a hoax after a thorough check. Investigations later revealed that the call was made by a minor,who has been held. However,nobody in the Village came to know about the development because security officers carried out the check discreetly. The people here thought it was a routine check, a senior officer said,adding,The 16-year-old boy,who was traced through his phone number,seemed mentally unstable. He had made the call to get some of his friends into trouble.

Caught on camera
Two men were caught on CCTV camera stealing track suits inside the Indira Gandhi Stadium where a wrestling matching was on. The track suits belong to the Delhi Police. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Jaspal Singh said,We are yet to find out why they had stolen the suits. The incident was recorded at 9 pm on Monday. The two have been identified as Shyam and Saeez Alam,residents of Maujpur and Chawri Bazaar respectively.

High on duty
A 23-year-old driver on Commonwealth Games duty of ferrying players to the Kadarpur Shooting Range in Gurgaon was arrested on Tuesday after the police recovered ganja from his possession. The incident came to light when Anuj Kumar (driving Tata Indigo – CWG 1339) was frisked at the entrance gate of the CRPF camp. The police discovered a newspaper under the drivers seat which had nine grams of ganja. He has been booked under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act at the Badshahpur police station.

Rough ride
At Pragati Maidan,where the Organising Committee have accreditation centres,the international broadcasting centre and the main Press centre,getting a shuttle service is a herculean task. For security reasons,the Delhi Police have closed most of the entry-exit points of Pragati Maidan. The only one open is almost two km away from the exit gate. Whenever a shuttle bus comes along,it becomes more crowded than a Blueline,giving the foreign broadcasters a taste of Delhi life.

Oops! Kalmadi has done it again
As if referring to former president APJ Abdul Kalam as late freedom fighter Abul Kalam Azad during the inaugural show of the Games was not enough,Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi made another hilarious faux pas on Tuesday by referring to Prince Charles as Prince Diana. Diana,who divorced Charles,had died in an accident in 1997. The embarrassing slip of the tongue occurred while Kalmadi was speaking on how the Games opening ceremony was watched by citizens of over 71 Commonwealth countries. Networks in the United States also showed it, he added.

Move over,hot cakes
So what if not many are turning up for CWG tournaments? The opening ceremony was a gala success,and from the looks of how tickets are selling,the closing event will see a similar if not a much better turnout. The cheapest of the tickets (D category),costing Rs 750 each,have already been sold out and the ones left range between Rs 4,000 and Rs 50,000. Organisers say that while the Rs 4,000 tickets are vanishing fast,it is just a matter of time before the rest of them are sold out too.

The long and short of it
Talk about ironing out differences! Carl Myercough,an athlete from England,poses with a much shorter colleague from Rwanda at the Commonwealth Games Village in New Delhi on Tuesday. Praveen Jain

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World around my neck
Michela Breeze,an athlete from Wales,wears a garland of badges from all the participating countries at the Games Village. Praveen Jain

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