Sept. 26: Boxers and officials of the 4th ASBC Asian Women Boxing Championship took a day off from the ring today to catch a glimpse of Assam’s world-famous one-horned rhinoceros at Pobitora wildlife sanctuary.

The sightseeing trip turned futile as elephant safaris could not be arranged because of “off-season” logistical problems, but the team ended up having a “great” picnic.

The team of 150 women pugilists and officials from Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Macau, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Mongolia and Kazakhstan had to return from the entrance of the sanctuary, which is just over an hour’s drive from the city.

Officials of the Indian Boxing Federation and Asian Boxing Confederation had also accompanied them.

The state tourism department, however, left no stone unturned to make it a memorable outing for the visitors.

“It was sad that we could not see the rhinos but the picnic was great,” said an official of the team from Nepal.

Though the visitors missed the jungle safari, they did not waste the opportunity of elephant rides and boating in a nearby stream arranged by the tourism department to make the trip memorable for them.

Cutting short the trip by mid-day, the players rushed back to the city. Some of them from Nepal, Vietnam and other countries visited the Kamakhya temple while some others chose to visit the malls.

The organising committee had, in fact, deputed officials to arrange the trip two days ago, but no initiative was taken to ensure that the purpose of the tour was served. The visitors were not taken to several other tourist spots in and around the city.

Lack of planning and co-ordination on the part of the organisers of the event has been evident in other aspects as well.

For instance, there were frequent power failures at the Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium venue here during the bouts yesterday.