Saturday evening.

A day like the previous ones ........ hot, hazy and humid ...... perhaps the most uncomfortable so far. Practice continued with no major problems.

This was a national holiday in India, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. traffic was noticeably lighter for both our morning and evening drives - our police escort had a much easier time of it! All bars and drink outlets were closed, including the bar at the hotel. We missed our "just back from the range" refresher tonight, but made do with some malt instead.

Tomorrow, there is no formal practice. We, the ITOs, will be working at the range doing the calibration of the targets. May it be a straightforward process. The Swiss engineers from Sius Ascor arrive in a day or so, and they have a number of things to fix which the locals have not been able to accomplish. We are also weighing every round of ammo to make sure there are no duds - a tedious, but necessary process.

Also tomorrow is the Games' Opening Ceremony. It is said that we have tickets for this, although we have not yet seen any. In addition, we are supposed to wear our official Games' uniforms, which have not yet arrived. So we may in the end be watching it on TV, but it would be a great shame to miss the atmosphere in the Nehru Stadium. Tomorrow night's report may clarify this.

Attached is a snap from the car taken on the drive to the range!