Indian officials are mystified - and miffed - after an unknown young woman managed to march with the country's athletes and officials during the opening ceremony.
Games
organizers on Sunday downplayed security concerns around the unscripted moment,
saying the interloper was a ceremony cast member and had been screened before
entering the Olympic Park.
Images
from Saturday morning's (EST) ceremony showed a young woman in turquoise
jeans and a red jacket marching alongside Indian flag bearer Sushil Kumar at
the head of the delegation of 40 athletes in bright yellow and navy blue.
"We
are totally dazed," Indian press atttache Harpal Singh Bedi said.
"How can a person without any accreditation walk past?"
Indian
officials said they had no idea who the woman was. Indian media identified her
as Madhura Nagendra, a graduate student from the southern city of Bangalore who
had been living in London.
Her
father, K. Nagendra, was quoted by the Press Trust of India news agency as
saying that his daughter had been chosen to dance in director Danny Boyle's
ceremony, and speculated that she might have been asked by organizers to escort
India's team into the stadium.
"This
might have hurt our team's feelings. I feel very sorry for that," he was
quoted as saying.
The
mystery woman case dominated Indian media's coverage of the opening of the
games.
Keywords – Mysterious lady in London Olympics opening
ceremony, Mystery woman dominated Indian media’s coverage.
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