Fans miss archery after confusion

LONDON: Dozens of spectators were turned away from the London Olympics archery at Lord’s cricket ground on Friday after the first ticketing mix-up of Games, said organisers. The preliminary men’s archery round was being held behind closed doors as is traditional for the sport, but some fans were apparently misled by unofficial websites saying they would be allowed in. Several people had queued from early in the morning in the hope of gaining access on a first-come-first-served basis and numbers peaked at around 50 by the time the archers started shooting. “This has always been a non-ticketed event but it seems some people believed they could come down on the day,” said Lord’s venue manager Vanessa Bellamy. “This was never the case but we believe some illegal websites may have suggested this was the case. There are a number of unofficial websites claiming to sell tickets, we therefore advise people to be extremely cautious and vigilant when attempting to buy tickets and only purchase from an official source.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2012.