Picture Credit: Twitter
In what comes as embarrassing news for India from Birmingham, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has received an official complaint about rude behavior from one of its members of the 321-member contingent. The organizers of the Games flagged weightlifting team manager Pardeep Sharma’s alleged rude behavior on Saturday and have written an email to the IOA about the rude behavior of Sharma. Meanwhile, IOA has issued a warning to Sharma.
Gina Dawson, CGA Relations Manager with the Birmingham Games, wrote to the Indian delegation about Sharma's behavior. Dawson complained that the team manager was rude to one of the T2 drivers after he requested to be dropped at a non-T2 destination. The emails also mentioned that team officials do not have T2 privileges.
"We have been advised that one of your team officials, Pardeep Sharma, was quite rude to one of our T2 drivers earlier on today as he had requested to be dropped at a non T2 destination," Dawson wrote in the letter which is in possession of news agency PTI.
"Just to note that team officials do not have T2 privileges and will only be able to use your own CGA vehicles, or bus transport to other villages of venues, or public transport with their accreditation. There is also a confirmed destination list and our drivers are not taxi services able to drop off anywhere. We kindly ask your teams to be respectful and courteous at all times to our workforce."
After this complaint of rude behavior, IOA acting president Anil Khanna has instructed Sharma to keep a low profile from now and remain within the rules. "We all are ambassadors of our great nation here. I expect you to keep a low profile and look for privileges within the rules. We have to remain polite with everyone we meet," said Khanna.