In an embarrassing incident for the organisers, the wrestling bouts at the Commonwealth Games had to be stopped and spectators were asked to vacate the hall after a speaker fell from the ceiling, minutes after the first session began. Only five bouts could be completed when a speaker, used to relay announcement, fell near one of the mat chairmen, raising a safety issue at the Ceventary stadium and arena on the opening day of the wrestling competitions.

This was right after India’s Deepak Punia had won his opening 86kg bout.

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The gathered fans were asked to vacate and a thorough check was ordered by the organisers, who fixed a restart of the session at 12:45 local time.

“All are safe, they are just rechecking the whole system to avoid any untoward incident,” said a coach.