Guests first, athletes next

HYDERABAD: The first Afro-Asian Games may have taken almost a decade to take off, but they are likely to set several benchmarks.
While the games, for sure, will go down in history as games without a village, they are also going to achieve the distinction of being the only games till now to give its athletes accreditations even before they arrive at the venue.
Should things go according to the plans of organisers, athletes from all African nations will board chartered flights in Zambia for Hyderabad with Afro-Asian Games accreditations around their necks.
This will be ensured by a team of officials and photographers who will be in Zambia during the Pan-African Games.
The idea behind this exercise is not to put the athletes from the African continent to hardship on arrival in Hyderabad, for competitions in Zambia followed by immediate travel is bound to leave them exhausted.
If this is the PR side of the exercise, the other side, and more practical one at that, is it will help the organisers to avoid setting up accreditation desks at each and every hotel and guest house where athletes are likely to be housed.
"It is impractical to have as many accreditation teams as there are accommodation centres," Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh director Ashok Kumar said.
"The ones who are coming here are not athletes or officials. They are our guests first and then athletes. It''s our duty to take good care of them. For, whether they win or lose, what remains in their memory is our hospitality which will go a long way in making our city a better destination for sportsmen in future," he added.
Meanwhile, the Indian Olympic Association is planning to send another delegation to Zambia around October 20 to personally invite the delegations. So much for Hyderabadi tehzeeb!