Amid chaos, confusion and the absence of African giants like Nigeria and Cameroon, the Afro-Asian Games will unfold with the opening match between hosts India and a second-rung team from Rwanda at the Lal Bahadur Stadium here tomorrow. The heavy rain which lashed the city since the last two days has however raised doubt on the match being held at all tomorrow. The out-field at the stadium resembled a pool and there is every possibility that the opening encounter may be put off once again. Actually, the opener was scheduled to be held on Tuesday but got postponed due to the later arrival of the Rwandan squad. Dark clouds hover over Games Hyderabad: Met warning: Heavy rainfall likely in Hyderabad during the next 48 hours. In the normal course, the forecast would have brought smiles to some and also reprieve from the searing heat. But for the organisers it is giving them a nightmare. The depression in the Bay of Bengal has literally put everyone under a cloud. At the GMC Balayogi Stadium, one found glum faces all over. The stadium was all damp. With the heavy downpour on the second consecutive day, children scurried for cover. Organisers threw up their arms in despair everytime they saw black clouds hovering over the sky. The organiser of the Games, Wizcraft director Viraf Sarkari looked worried. Asked if the rain could affect the smooth conduct of the inaugural ceremony, Sarkari said, ‘‘We can’t do anything. We will have to wait for the rain to subside but the show will go on. We may have some problems in the laser and other electronic displays. There will be more than 15,000 participants on the field.’’ — N Jagannath Das Indian coach Stephen Constantine was cautious when asked about the home advantage for the opener. ‘‘We were pitted against the teams who are better than us in many aspects. The African teams are very strong and it will be a good experience playing with them,’’ he said. But star players Baichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan differed from their coach and said that they have a lot of expectations from the tournament. ‘‘We are not thinking about the FIFA rankings. We have improved a lot and we will try our best to win the tournament here. I know that we will get good support from the home crowd and that will help us to do miracles,’’ said Bhaichung. ‘‘This is the first time that we have got a chance to play against so many foreign teams. We know that the other teams are very strong. But we want to give our best and win the final on November 1,’’ said Vijayan, who will be retiring after the end of the Games here.
