Lusofonia Games: Motorcycle diaries

You would think Goa's quintessential mode of public transport, the motorcycle taxi, is slowly being pushed off the road. The motorcycle taxi business is under threat in Goa but on Tuesday evening, they were basking in the limelight after Angola's basketball players found a novel way to explore the city. They hopped on the motorcycle taxis and asked the "pilots" to show them the city, which they duly did.On the evidence of their big smiles, they surely enjoyed it all the way.
Pass, pass, pass!!!
Nikhil Desai, head of communications FA at the Lusofonia Games, offered the best explanation.
"For every pass, there are 20 claimants," he said when demand for extra passes reached his ears. He wasn't wrong. For the football final between India and Mozambique, almost every Goan wanted a pass. Those who didn't get their hands on a pass were forced to gate-crash in the end. With the closing ceremony having a reduced capacity of only 11,000 the rush for passes on the concluding day will be madder. Don't be surprised if many phones are switched off!
Press box invaded again
The press box, for the umpteenth time, this time at the Nehru Stadium, was invaded by over-enthusiastic football fans, both young and old, and despite the volunteers keeping a strict vigil. Containing the crowd at the football final with no separate enclosure for the media was always not going to be easy. It took the tactful handling of the PR agency's representative Diana Braganza, who stood firm and refused to buckle down to a bunch of young vociferous fans and later a senior citizen and his companion, that things were brought under control. Of course, she had to call in the security to back her up, just in case the group got violent.