In a rather unfortunate incident from the glamorous opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Thursday, India’s Tokyo Olympics Bronze Medalist Lovlina Borgohain was left stranded after leaving the event mid-way.
Borgohain alongside another member of the Indian boxing contingent Muhammad Hussamuddin decided to leave the opening ceremony early as they both had bouts the following day. They wanted to get enough rest to prepare for the big day and decide to leave early, only to not find any transportation and get stranded, according to news agency reports.
Both had to take the first bus of the Indian contingent back to their accommodation.
India’s Chef de Mission (CDM) Rajesh Bhandari, who is also the Vice President (VP) of the Boxing Federation of India (BF) was not pleased with the duo’s decision to leave early and claimed that they should not have come to the opening ceremony, if they wanted to leave before time.
‘There were so many athletes who decided not to come as they had training or competition in the morning, which we completely understand. I will be speaking to the boxing team on this matter,’ Mr. Bhandari told PTI.