ELEPHANTS AND TIGERS RULED OUT FOR INDIAN CEREMONY IN AUSTRALIA

August 24, 2005

COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Wednesday

24 August 2005

Last updated 5:20 AM Thai local time

Elephants and tigers ruled out of ceremony

Melbourne _ India won't be allowed to import tigers and elephants to Australia

for next year's Commonwealth Games closing ceremony at the Melbourne Cricket

Ground, organisers said yesterday.

Melbourne 2006 Games chairman Ron Walker said India had planned to have the

exotic animals take part in a handover ceremony for the 2010 Games, to be held

in New Delhi.

But Walker ruled out a suggestion that elephants and tigers could appear at the

MCG. ``They couldn't anyway because they have to go through quarantine and that

would take months,'' he said. ``You wouldn't want tigers to get loose on the

athletes, would you? The mind boggles at the thought.''

Dr. T. J. Rao, the Indian government's honorary consul-general in Melbourne,

confirmed that his country wants to bring 1,000 artists and its own artistic

director to Melbourne for the closing ceremony.

But Rao said he was not aware of plans to have animals included.

``It is true they want to bring about 1,000 artists,'' said Rao. ``Beyond that,

I don't know if there is any truth in it.''

India, which will take possession of the Games' ceremonial flag during the

closing ceremony, is reported to have asked organisers in London if it can

increase its portion of the ceremony beyond 10 minutes.

``It appears they want to do a 20-minute segment, which is impossible,'' Walker

said. ``The closing ceremony is a huge party and you can't have 20 minutes of a

flag handing-over ceremony _ it doesn't work like that.''

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled for March 15-26, 2006.AP

Recommended Posts