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Snub for Games 'orphans'

1/ 8/2002

THE Indian and Bangladeshi Commonwealth Games teams have been snubbed by the North West claim members of the Asian community.

They are upset that the two nations are Games' 'orphans' because not one local authority in the region has 'adopted' their athletes for their two-week stay. This is in contrast to the Pakistani team which has been adopted by Lancashire County Council.

In all 20 Commonwealth countries have local authority 'parents' who have organised receptions, social gatherings and sight-seeing tours for the athletes and officials when they are 'off-track'.

In the absence of any town hall support the Indian Association in Manchester have stepped in and adopted their national team organising a welcome meeting at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground.

Said association president Dr Yogesh Virmani: "I do feel aggrieved about this. India is not some small, insignificant nation. It is the biggest nation in the Commonwealth and the world's biggest democracy. I feel the local authorities have lost out too. Remember that India, with its expanding economy and society, offers communities and businesses in Britain great opportunities. Links could have been forged between a particular part of the North West and India as a result of friendships built during the games."

Anger was also expressed by a veteran of the Indian community 67-year-old Ram Pandey: "I am not a politician but I think this is disgraceful. India is by far the biggest country in the games by population. It is the biggest democracy in the world yet not one authority has seen fit to adopt the team. Furthermore there are 30,000 people of Indian origin in Greater Manchester alone."

Members of the Bangladeshi community are particularly critical of Oldham for failing to adopt their national team. The council have adopted Canada but steered clear of any south Asian games' connection.
Community worker Muzahid Khan said he was shocked.

"Oldham has the largest Bangladeshi community outside London, the town has a replica of the Shaheed Minar - the monument in Dhaka to the fallen of the independence struggle, it also has a sculpture of the country's national flower, the Shapla. So it would have been ideal for the local council to adopt Bangladesh instead of Canada or they could have adopted both," he said.

A spokeswoman for the games' organisers said they had no idea why the two teams had not been adopted. She said: "Our role was to draw up a list of countries participating in the games and circulate it to local authorities suggesting they might like to adopt a team. So we have authorities like Lancashire adopting Pakistan presumably because so many people of Pakistani origin live in the county."

Of the Greater Manchester authorities only City of Manchester and Bury have failed to adopt a team. A spokeswoman for Manchester said: "As hosts to the games and all the nations participating we did not feel it right to single any one out for adoption."