From the UK Telegraph,"Olympic ceremony gatecrasher was an Indian student who claims she was told to lead out her nation: A mystery women who gatecrashed the opening ceremony and "led" the Indian team was a student who claims she was just following orders.," by Richard Alleyne, Rob Crilly and Jacquelin Magnay, on 29 Jul 2012 -- Madhura Nagendra, 26, an Indian student studying in Britain, has upset her native country after she was seen walking alongside their flag bearer during the parade of nations.
The Indian authorities have demanded an explanation from the Olympic organisers and described the move as a security breach and an affront to their athletes.
But yesterday Miss Nagendra's father defended her actions and said it was all a misunderstanding as she was told by the organisers to lead out the team.
Speaking from his home in Bangalore, south India, KL Nagendra, a local businessman said his daughter, a keen amateur dancer, had been picked for the performance by the show creator Danny Boyle.
"One of the organisers asked her to walk along with the team," said Mr Nagendra who had travelled to London to watch his daughter.
"From whatever I learnt that she being an Indian, the London Olympics Organising Committee might have selected her to 'take' the team inside the stadium.
"This might have hurt our team's feelings. I feel very sorry for that."
Miss Nagendra is studying management at the London School of Business and Finance after a passing a degree in communications from Christ College in Bangalore.
Her identity emerged after a classmate at the Deccan Chronicle newspaper noticed her leading out the 50-strong team at the spectacular stadium.
While they were resplendent in blazers and yellow turbans, she was just wearing a casual red jacket and jeans.
She also posted pictures on her Facebook page before she realised her mistake.
On a networking website she described herself as a "very bouncy, lively, cheerful, confident, talented and an amiable juvinile (sic) lass".
She added that she was someone "really mad about DANCING and MUSIC".
Acting chef de mission of the Indian contingent Brig P.K. Muralidharan Raja is understandably agitated that a person who was not part of the delegation was allowed to accompany the team and hog the limelight in the process.
"She had no business to walk in with the Indian contingent and we are taking up the issue with the organizers.
"We were initially told that she would accompany the contingent till the track but she went on to take the entire lap.
"We have taken strong exception to this. The march past is for the athletes and officials attached to the contingent.
"We are totally taken by surprise how a person could just intrude into the track."
But Sebastian Coe, the London 2012 chairman, played down the incident and said she would have had to have gone through strict security checks to get into the stadium.
"She should not have been in the opening ceremony but don't run away with the idea that she sort of walk in off the street to be able to do that, she hadn't," he said. (source: UK Telegraph )
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