One official, however, decided to pick up few of the packets and get them to the Thammassat University this afternoon. They came in handy when Jyotirmoyee Sikdar opened the gold account with India's first Asian Games athletics gold in 12 years -- P T Usha and the Indian women's 4 x 400m relay team were the last to do so in 1986 at Seoul. When a bunch of local Indians handed the 29-year-old Sikdar a flag to carry around the track after his tremendous win in the 1,500 m, those cheering her from the stands waved back smaller paper versions of the tricolour.

Indian flags appeared all over the Thammasat Stadium as India had its finest day in any Asian Games since 1982. India picked up one gold, one silver and five bronze from the seven finals in which their athletes figured on the second day of the athleticscompetition.

In two days, India's athletics team has picked up one gold, silver and seven bronze, which is more than what the rest of the disciplines have gathered so far in Bangkok.

Even outside the athletics stadium, India had its finest day of the Games. Indian tennis players won all but one -- an indisposed Niruapama Vaidyanathan lost her singles to second seed Li ang of China -- of their matches in the individual events and the Indian hockey team avenged their defeat in the 1994 Games final by beating the defending champions South Korea 2-1 in their league encounter.

The Indian kabaddi team with its fourth successive win now only needs to walk up to the podium to receive their third gold medal in as many Games and later in the evening, rejected boxer Dingko Singh outpointed a local favourite to make the final and assure India of its first Asian Games boxing finalist since 1982.

When Sikdar's turn came to receive India's first gold medal of these Games, the organisers bungled so badly that theyhad to play the Indian anthem no less than three times before the Indian contingent was satisfied.

They first played a wrong anthem and amidst boos and shouts from Indians at the venue, it was stopped and the correct Indian anthem played. But this time, when the anthem was being played, the volunteers in-charge of raising the flag instead lowered it, thinking the right anthem had already been played.

The anthem was played a second time, as the athletes stood near the tunnel. The Indians protested and the organisers apologised over the public address system. And just when it seemed all over, one of the local officials again asked the three medalists -- Sikdar, China's Wang Qingfen, India's other runner Sunita Rani -- and Ashwini Kumar, member of the Indian Olympic Committee, who presented the medals, to come back to the podium. The Indian national anthem was played a third time and this time, the flag soared proudly.