India annoyed over mystery woman at march past

The presence of an unidentified lady beside flagbearer Sushil Kumar in the Indian contingent during the opening ceremony of the Olympics has prompted the country's miffed officials to take up the issue with the Games organisers.

A young lady in red shirt and blue trousers was seen leading the Indian contingent in the march past alongside Beijing Games bronze-medal winner Sushil Kumar and her unwanted presence has not gone down well with the Indians.

Acting chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent Brig P K Muralidharan Raja is understandably agitated that a person who was not part of the delegation was allowed to accompany the team and hog the limelight in the process.

"She had no business to walk in with the Indian contingent and we are taking up the issue with the organisers. We don't know who she is and why she was allowed to walk in. It is a shame that she was with the athletes in the march past", Raja said.

"We were initially told that she would accompany the contingent till the track but she went on to take the entire lap. There was another man also but he stayed back and did not enter the stadium," Raja added.

"We have taken strong exception to this. The march past is for the athletes and officials attached to the contingent. We are totally taken by surprise how a person could just intrude into the track," he wondered.

 Photograph: Paul Sancya / AP