NEW DELHI: If you stood in a queue to buy tickets for a Commonwealth Games event and were eventually turned away, don't blame the Organising Committee. On a day when the stadiums, empty so far, began filling up dramatically, OC chairperson Suresh Kalmadi insisted that all was well.
''There are 14 lakh tickets for spectators for all the sports events. Of these, 9 lakh have already been sold,'' he said. What about the rest of the tickets? Reports of spectators being turned away from venues after being told that events are sold out have become common over the past few days. Kalmadi admits it's an issue that the OC is looking into.
On Friday, for several sports events — even those not featuring India — the Games staff was telling people who had turned up at the windows that tickets were not available. Rishabh Arora, who had come to catch the final of the mixed team badminton match between India and Malaysia, couldn't get tickets. ''So, I asked for tickets for the squash match, which didn't have India in any important match. But I was told that tickets were not available.''
This is not an isolated experience. Suddenly, the city seems to be running out of tickets for even matches that have no mass appeal and eventually the stands are empty.
Even those who have bought tickets online are facing a lot of trouble. Many say vouchers are taking hours to be redeemed for a ticket, with counters claiming that the server hasn't updated the central seating arrangements after sales at other counters. Spectators are also complaining about the time spent filling out forms. The form, which has a long set of 10-12 questions, is a replica of the one that you need to fill online. Spectators are questioning the need to fill out the form when the person himself comes to buy tickets. ''Why can't they just sell the ticket like at other events, for instance IPL? What's the need for the form,'' asked Badal, buying tickets at a counter.
Sources however say the reason for people being turned away is the slow server. The server is managed and run by IRCTC. Said a senior OC official, ''It was expected that around 3 lakh hits would be generated for sales every day but the actual number is double of that and the server can't cope.'' With the server becoming slow, sources say the staff at the ticket counters are unable to get a correct picture of the seats available, prompting it to give the stock response — 'sold out' — to people.
Kalmadi says the issue is being looked into though he prefers to attribute the absence of spectators to the long waiting time, longer walks and the midday heat. ''Many ticket-holding spectators haven't turned up for many events during the day but the later matches had full attendance,'' says the OC chairperson.
With many complimentary passes being given away — the OC is nowadays over-run by those looking for such passes — the stands should be filling up fast, especially after OC claims that tickets are much in demand. Lalit Bhanot, OC secretary-general, in fact says that tickets for boxing, wrestling, swimming and hockey are all sold out.
TOI
''There are 14 lakh tickets for spectators for all the sports events. Of these, 9 lakh have already been sold,'' he said. What about the rest of the tickets? Reports of spectators being turned away from venues after being told that events are sold out have become common over the past few days. Kalmadi admits it's an issue that the OC is looking into.
On Friday, for several sports events — even those not featuring India — the Games staff was telling people who had turned up at the windows that tickets were not available. Rishabh Arora, who had come to catch the final of the mixed team badminton match between India and Malaysia, couldn't get tickets. ''So, I asked for tickets for the squash match, which didn't have India in any important match. But I was told that tickets were not available.''
This is not an isolated experience. Suddenly, the city seems to be running out of tickets for even matches that have no mass appeal and eventually the stands are empty.
Even those who have bought tickets online are facing a lot of trouble. Many say vouchers are taking hours to be redeemed for a ticket, with counters claiming that the server hasn't updated the central seating arrangements after sales at other counters. Spectators are also complaining about the time spent filling out forms. The form, which has a long set of 10-12 questions, is a replica of the one that you need to fill online. Spectators are questioning the need to fill out the form when the person himself comes to buy tickets. ''Why can't they just sell the ticket like at other events, for instance IPL? What's the need for the form,'' asked Badal, buying tickets at a counter.
Sources however say the reason for people being turned away is the slow server. The server is managed and run by IRCTC. Said a senior OC official, ''It was expected that around 3 lakh hits would be generated for sales every day but the actual number is double of that and the server can't cope.'' With the server becoming slow, sources say the staff at the ticket counters are unable to get a correct picture of the seats available, prompting it to give the stock response — 'sold out' — to people.
Kalmadi says the issue is being looked into though he prefers to attribute the absence of spectators to the long waiting time, longer walks and the midday heat. ''Many ticket-holding spectators haven't turned up for many events during the day but the later matches had full attendance,'' says the OC chairperson.
With many complimentary passes being given away — the OC is nowadays over-run by those looking for such passes — the stands should be filling up fast, especially after OC claims that tickets are much in demand. Lalit Bhanot, OC secretary-general, in fact says that tickets for boxing, wrestling, swimming and hockey are all sold out.
TOI
No comments:
Post a Comment