Chaos is the name of the game here

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, MAY 15. Confusion, chaos and calamities, that was the tale at the National sub-junior chess tournament scheduled to commence at the National Tuberculosis Institute (NTI) here on Tuesday.

Unexpected and unprecedented rush for registration compounded with an unforeseen calamity with bees invading the playing hall caused the abandonment of the first round matches at the venue.

There was a spate of late entries at the NTI here this morning as hordes of parents queued up to register their children for the tournament. The organisers in their attempt to please all and sundry, extended entries till 2 p.m this afternoon. This meant that pairings were also pushed back and with tempers rising high amongst the parents with the lack of amenities at the venue and stalling of the start.

Apparently there were some 184 entries in the boys' under-12 section. One parent said that with an unusually high number of children being directed to play the game, entries in each tournament see at least 25 to 30 per cent increase every year. ``Organisers should envisaged such an increase and planned accordingly to avoid such problems,'' the parent said.

Sorry sight

On the flip side, the organisers did not take into account the fact that the city is also the venue for the Common Entrance Test exam currently. This means that all hotels are fully booked and parents are put to tremendous hardship trying to find accommodation. The facilities for participants at the NTI are fully booked up and it is a sorry sight seeing parents spreading out bed sheets in the corridors trying to get some rest after long and tiring journeys. Also the NTI has limited canteen facility and parents have to trudge some distance to get not only refreshments but basic requirements like drinking water.

The lead up to the start of the tournament was an avoidable disaster. But once tempers were assuaged after many parents threatened to boycott the tournament, the championship finally began. Spare a thought for the poor under-12 kids having to play after a whole day's ordeal without food, sustenance and rest but still the matches did get under way.

Bees prove the final straw

Unfortunately adjacent to the hall where the kids were playing, bees have made their hives. The hall had the windows closed and with the stifling heat some unsuspecting child or parent may have opened a window. The bees slowly made their way into the room causing a severe panic. Parents and children were seen rushing out of the hall and that was the last straw. At 7.30 p.m there was no chance of re-starting the tournament for the day.

It was really a sorry sight to see children being put to such hardship. One young boy even fainted and there was no one to provide medical assistance or even first aid. The hapless parents had to run from pillar to post to get water to sprinkle on the child to revive him.

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