However it was an utter disappointment to be there.
First and foremost thing that I noticed was that there was NO media attention to the event.Is it that we are such a Cricket-loved country that we do not know about such events ?
The day before :
It all started on the 24th of December where the participants were called for weighing ins. As the matches take place in weigh category, the organizers had to take the weight of all the participants. As my son was taking part in the matches, we were called at 2:00 pm at the venue. A lot of players with their parents were waiting there without any knowledge of what is the current status and when the weights will be taken.
At around 4:00 pm, we were asked to proceed to a new location where the actual weighing was taking place. To start with, the weighing scale was faulty... a faulty weighing machine for an international event ... wow ... thats something interesting !! The organizers could not get the scale to read 0. So after some time, here comes a digital weighing scale which could read upto 40KGs only and the weighing started. At one incidence, the weight of a boy was written as 41 where the scale was surely showing 45... I could not understand whats going on and then after boy got down from the scale, the guy measuring showed that the scale was showing -4 to star with. So this is how we organizer events. After the weights, we were asked to be at the match venue again.
So, we went to the match venue again to ask the timings for the matches. A lot of teams have started coming and the crowed is gathering real large. A few men with "India" track suites were arguing with the management for their accommodation. So the players who have represented India do not have an accommodation... this was the second shock. Don't you know who all are coming and where they will be staying ?
There was a big stage built just near the entrance, so I thought may be there are matches to be played there. I asked someone about the purpose of the stage and to my surprise I was told that the stage is for a DJ. So we have a DJ for the opening ceremony and here I was thinking that there are not enough sponsors for the event.
After much inquiry, we were asked to be present at the venue at 9:00 am sharp on the match day.
The match day :
The day started at 9:00 am sharp. We were at the venue at 9, and on reaching, we received a message from our coach that the matches are starting at 10:00am. What a start !!
Every team was given some coupons for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So we got some to our team. There was ONE counter that was serving around 500+ players and their relatives. So there was a long queue for breakfast. Another organizing blunder.
Now its 12:00 pm and there is still no news of the starting the matches. So people start to queue up again, for the lunch now. People were sitting all on the ground to have their lunch.
So I started asking people about when the matches are going to start and was told that the matches will start after the meeting is over. Whats all this meeting about ?? Its a meeting to decide the rules and regulations. What are valid punches and kicks and when a warning should be given ? Ooh !! a very valid point here so that people don't fight when the matches are going on. But hello ... if you know that you must have such meetings, why do you start these meeting so late ? Can you not do it in the morning ? Why do you make players starting from 6 years to 25 years wait ?
So after the meeting was over, we got another news. Theres no electricity and we don't have a generator back-up. So the matches will start at 4:00pm. Do they really care about the players ?
But as we want to participate, we waited till 4:00 pm. At 4:00 pm, we got a news that the matches will start soon and we went to the match arena and it was utter chaos... players all over the match arena, all the officials and management were trying to control the crowd, the mike system was not working properly. After 15-20 mins of shouting and pushing and pulling they could clear the match area and now the matches could start.
And the matches started .......
The matches started at 4:30 pm. The first group was below 15 KGs. The players names were called for and two of the players age 5 and 6 were missing from the list. Another blunder ... You make the players and their parents wait from 9 am through 4:30 pm to tell them that there is some mis-management and your lads can not play. Their coaches started arguing with the management for adding their names in the list and theres some running around going on for adding the names.
In the mean time, they started the matches for the named players. As there were just 4 players listed, the first two matches were SFs, the third match was a 3rd place match. As soon as the 4th match, the final, started .... it was stopped in between. Some more running around and after 20 more minutes here comes another list of players. The result of all the matches played earlier was void and all the matches will be played again. Lovely ... I have not received so many surprises in my entire life.
To be continued ...
