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Lovlina Borgohain left stranded after exiting CWG 2022 opening ceremony midway

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Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain, who won the bronze medal in the Olympics, was left stranded after leaving the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in the middle. The ceremony lasted for two hours, so Lovlina and Muhammad Hussamuddin made the decision to head to the Games Village early.

"We want to train in the morning as we have about day after. The ceremony will go on for a while so we thought of leaving. We asked for a taxi but we were told that was not available," said Lovlina when PTI asked her why she was leaving midway. Lovlina and Hussamuddin were unsure about how to get back to their accommodations because the ceremony was still going on and they were unable to arrange for a cab on their own. When the first bus to the Village near the National Exhibition Center arrived, they boarded it.

The organizers gave the Indian delegation three automobiles, but their drivers were finished for the day while the athletes and officials rode buses to the opening ceremony. Rajesh Bhandari, India's Chef de Mission and the vice president of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), was not happy with the situation.

"We were in the middle of the ceremony and I got to know later that she and another boxer left early. We all came in buses and taxi option was not available at that time. They shouldn't have come if they wanted to leave early. There were so many athletes who decided not to come as they had training or competition in the morning, which we completely understand. I will be speaking to the boxing team on this matter," said Bhandari.

The ceremony had 164 athletes and officials in total, which is just half the size of the Indian delegation. Due to their first game the following morning, the women's cricket team players also made the decision to remain at the hotel.

Prior to the Games, Lovlina claimed that her coaches had been repeatedly harassed as a result of Sandhya Gurung, her personal coach, being refused entry to the Games Village. Later, Gurung received Village accreditation.

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