Games mistakes
Friday, November 19, 2010
The government on Tuesday told Parliament that all complaints of "irregularities" in the run-up to hosting the just-concluded Commonwealth Games would be examined thoroughly and the guilty will not be spared. It also said that the Centre would carefully take on board the recommendations of all probe agencies before agreeing to host similar international sporting events.
"All irregularities will be examined and the guilty will not be spared," Union sports minister M S Gill said in the Lok Sabha while making a suo motu statement on the mega sporting event.
Against the backdrop of allegations of irregularities in preparations for the sports event, Gill said recommendations of the VK Shunglu Committee, CAG and CVC -- probing the irregularities -- would be taken on board before agreeing to host similar international sporting events in the country.
He said that CAG had already started auditing all Games related projects and the expenditure of the Organising Committee. "It plans to complete this exercise within three months and present a draft report by the first week of January, 2011," said the sports minister.
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 1:17 PM,
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Tax searches on Games contractors widen to 60 premises
Friday, October 29, 2010
Officers of the Income Tax department Thursday widened their search operations, and visited some 60 premises across cities of individuals and firms who won lucrative contracts for the Commonwealth Games, officials said.
'Today we launched our search operations at the premises of some more Commonwealth Games contractors -- around 60 or so. This is a part of our ongoing probe. We are examining if there was any tax evasion while executing contracts,' a senior tax official said here.
He said the cities where the search operations took place included the national capital, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai and some in Jharkhand.
'Our probe is specifically looking at the contracts awarded by the Organising Committee and the role played by its officials and contractors. There are also charges of bribery. We will seize documents and books of accounts if needed,' the official added.
Income tax officials had conducted similar search operations Oct 19 on some 30 premises of those who had won Games contracts. Among the premises visited by the tax sleuths was that of Sudhanshu Mittal, a leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mittal's close relatives had won some contracts, a senior official said.
The developments followed a host of measures announced by the government since the 12-day Games drew to a close Oct 14 to look into allegations of misappropriation of funds and questionable procedures followed for award of contracts for various projects.
Among them, the tenure of officials associated with the Games was extended, even as the country's top auditor said a report on its accounts and financial activities would be presented to parliament in three months.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also set up the high-level committee headed by former comptroller and auditor general V.K. Shunglu to look into all matters relating to the conduct and organisation of the Games.
The prime minister had also directed the ministries concerned to conduct thorough investigations into all complaints received of procedural and other irregularities and said those found guilty should face severe and exemplary punishment.
The agencies conducting investigations include the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Directorate of Enforcement, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the Central Vigilance Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Labels: Commonwealth Games, India
posted @ 9:52 AM,
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What Now for Games Venues?
Hosting an international sporting event is as much about theatricality as it is about sport and the run up to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi was certainly filled with its own share of circus acts.
While evaluating the success of the Games, inevitably the question of their cost arises, and a battery of commissions has already been formed to look into potential financial wrongdoing. The initial budget of a few hundred million dollars escalated exponentially in the last seven years, with figures as high as $15 billion doing the rounds. Whether the city will ever be able to recover this investment is yet to be seen. However, if precedent is anything to go by, it could take the city anywhere from 20 to 30 years to pay for it.
A good deal of money was spent on upgrading the city’s infrastructure, something the Games have undoubtedly been a catalyst for. The new airport terminal, the metro, an expanded road network system are some of the more apparent infrastructural improvements in the city that will make it a more attractive destination. But the question begging to be asked is: How can the vast amounts of money spent on the sports stadiums and associated infrastructure be recovered?
Cities from developing nations may not benefit that much by hosting mega-sporting events. High infrastructure and development costs, the inability to attract a large number of tourists and spectators and the fact that the facilities languish after the event all make compelling arguments for not hosting events like the Commonwealth Games.
Stadiums, like skyscrapers and museums, follow an economic model unique to themselves. Often touted as citadels of modernity, the expression of human will over a landscape, these structures contribute to the making of national pride. But for New Delhi to fully exploit its spanking new sports facilities and indeed re-invent itself through the Games, it now needs to re-envision the stadiums as public or semi-public spaces and open them up to public-private participation.
The twin objectives of public architecture is that it is socially engaging and uplifting while creating cultural markers in a physical landscape. Together, both of these instill civic pride, something self-deprecating Delhi urgently needs.
So far, many in the city have only experienced these edifices through reports in the media, while for the street vendors and others who were displaced in the name of a larger cause, the two weeks of the Commonwealth Games represent institutionalized marginalization. It is imperative that the city transfers ownership of these structures back to its populace through an active engagement with it.
The hosting of events that define and engage with popular culture such as concerts could be one such way. Tapping into India’s love for all things Bollywood would provide the star power required to draw crowds in once again and locate these stadiums back within the public realm.
Sports stadiums are used to accommodate thousands of people with their attention focused on a select few— like concert halls. Located across the road from both the large exhibition grounds of Pragati Maidan and the National Museum, in the heart of the city, the Dhyan Chand National Stadium is ideally located for an adaptive re-use project. Its transformation into a hybrid building, one that houses both a modern-day opera house or concert hall and a convention facility would exploit its potent location while contributing to the cultural and economic development of the city.
In the winter of 2005, the conductor Zubin Mehta brought the Bavarian State Orchestra to New Delhi. They played to a sold-out audience at the nearby Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, which was also host to a number of Commonwealth events earlier this month. The Delhi government at the time recognized the need for such a venue and made the otherwise under-utilized stadium available. Undoubtedly, the need for such a facility does exist and merits a location as prominent as the termination of the ceremonial Rajpath axis.
The continuation and establishment of a worthy legacy for Commonwealth 2010 hinges on the successful engagement with communities that reside within the vicinity of the stadiums as well as those that are spread across the city. Just as Barcelona in 1992 used the Olympics as a means of transforming itself from a manufacturing city, New Delhi too needs to seize the opportunity it has now and tap into the same spirit that transformed the Games Village from near-disaster in a week.
On another level, just as Bollywood has the means to capture the imagination of a people, the stitching together of a geographically disparate Delhi (something that the metro has made a tremendous contribution towards), the creation of civic pride and a sense of urban connectedness is best achieved through collective community engagement.
“Come Out and Play, New Delhi,” a league of street-level sports with neighborhood teams could be a worthy legacy of the Games. A citywide government effort to give structure to street cricket or any sport for that matter would benefit tremendously from the spaces created for the Commonwealth Games.
Do let us know your ideas on how the staging area can be used in the comments section below.
–Rahoul Singh is an award winning architect and principal of the design firm RSDA. He is a columnist for various magazines and newspapers and author of the book, “Gardens of Delight”.
Labels: Commonwealth Games, India
posted @ 9:51 AM,
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Cavendish revels in Commonwealth Games support role
Monday, October 18, 2010
By Barry Ryan
Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) has criticised riders who cited health concerns in opting not to travel to Delhi to compete in the Commonwealth Games. The Manxman finished 7th in the road race and then stayed on in India to act as an unpaid helper to the Isle of Man team.
“The guys who stayed away made a mistake,” Cavendish told The Observer. “If you look after yourself you won’t catch anything. As a single guy you run a risk if you sleep with a girl. Risks come with everything.”
After the road race, Cavendish was fulsome in his praise of his five amateur teammates. In recognition of their efforts, he delayed his return home by four days in order to act as a helper to the Isle of Man team, driving the team car during Andrew Roche’s 12th-place finish in the time trial.
"I didn't want to just swan about in sunglasses; I was even wiping his back after the warm-up,” Cavendish said. “The thing is, I know what it's like to be looked after, and these guys gave 100 per cent for me in the road race."
Cavendish recently cited his frustration that his HTC-Columbia team had not offered him a new contract commensurate with his achievements on the bike and he said that the blame lay with the team’s failure to land a replacement sponsor for Columbia. The sportswear company is ending its association with the team at the end of 2010.
"We're the most successful team on the planet and something is wrong when we don't have enough sponsors,” Cavendish said. “Ninety nine per cent of people on the team, riders and staff, are not just performing, but over-performing. There are a couple of people whose job it is to get new sponsors and it's frustrating when they can't and we suffer for it. I'm just frustrated because I've been massively underpaid this year and next because for some reason we can't get more sponsors."
In spite of his frustration at his salary, Cavendish reiterated his desire to stay with the team, where a dedicated lead-out train has built up around him over the past three seasons. However, as the man ultimately responsible for bringing home such a sizeable proportion of the HTC bacon, Cavendish is aggrieved that he is not receiving his fair share.
“I love the team, I love where I am. It's the best place to do what I want to do, which is ride my bike and have fun and win, but if everything rests on you, you shouldn't have that feeling of being taken advantage of. I don't want to extort anything, I am a loyal person but I want to be paid fairly.”
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Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 8:37 AM,
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Commonwealth Games 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
India's hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games ended on a high note on Thursday as badminton player Saina Nehwal won a dramatic final gold of the 11-day competition to put her country second in the overall medal table.
India had earlier suffered a humiliating defeat in one of its most popular sports when Australia registered a resounding 8-0 victory in the men's hockey final for a leading 74th gold medal and 177 in total.
But Nehwal came back from the brink of defeat to secure India's 38th victory, edging England into third place, as she won the women's singles event.
She became the first Indian to claim a Commonwealth gold in the sport, surviving a match-point in the second set before going on to beat Malaysian second seed 19-21 23-21 21-13 Wong Mew Choo.
It was a much-needed boost for India, which had to deal with controversies about child labor, questions as to whether the venues in New Delhi would be ready in time, technology faults, disputed qualifications in athletics events and three positive drug tests -- one of whom was a home competitor, female walker Rani Yadav.
With the sporting events concluded, the chairman of the New Delhi Organizing Committee, Suresh Kalmadi, applauded his country's efforts during the handing-over ceremony to the 2014 host city, Glasgow of Scotland.
"For the athletes it has been a life-changing experience. For India it has been a new beginning in sports," he told the crowd at a packed Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium after being greeted with boos.
"For the world it has been evidence of what India can do on the sporting stage. This is a new era for Indian sport. All this has made what has turned out to be the largest, the most-watched and the most enjoyable Games ever."
Australia, the host four years ago in Melbourne, was the dominant country throughout the competition -- which is contested by nations from the former British Empire, but was hit this year by the absence of many top athletes such as sprint star Usain Bolt of Jamaica.
The Australian men's field hockey team has now won gold every time since the sport was first included, in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, and had little problems in brushing aside India on Thursday.
Luke Doerner and Jason Wilon scored two goals each as their team followed up their World Cup triumph at the same Major Dhyan Chand stadium in March to seal a hat-trick of titles in 2010 along with the Champions Trophy.
New Zealand won the bronze medal with a surprise victory over fourth seeds England, winning 5-3 in a penalty shootout after the match was tied 3-3 after extra-time.
However, Australia's world netball champions were unable to add Commonwealth Gold to their CV as longtime rivals New Zealand retained their title with a 66-64 victory in a rematch of the 2006 final.
Kenya edged out Australia as the top nation in the track and field events, winning both the marathon races on Thursday.
John Kelai ended the African country's 20-year wait to win the men's title as he triumphed in a time of two hours 14 minutes and 35 seconds from Michael Shelley and compatriot Amos Matui.
Irene Kosgei gave Kenya a historic first success in the women's event, edging past teammate Irene Mogake late in the race to win in a time of 2:34.32, with Australia's Lisa Weightman claiming bronze.
Singapore dominated the closing table tennis events, continuing a gold rush that saw their players give up just one gold -- to India in the men's doubles on Wednesday.
Yang Zi beat compatriot Gao Ning 4-1 in the men's singles final, while in another all-Singapore affair second seeds Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei upset the favored Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu 3-2 in the women's doubles.
But Singapore suffered defeat in the badminton arena, with top-seeded Shinta Sari and Yao Lei losing to India's second-ranked Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Michimanda in straight sets.
Malaysian top seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong won the men's doubles, beating England's second seeds Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark 21-19 21-14.
Robertson also had to settle for silver in the mixed doubles, despite being the top seeds, as he and Jenny Wallwork lost 22-20 21-12 by Koo Kien Keat and Chin Ee Hui, also of Malaysia
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 10:10 AM,
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Double embarrassment for India
Friday, October 8, 2010
After averting the ultimate embarrassment of having to delay the start of athletics competition because of a damaged track, Commonwealth Games organisers were dealing with a transit driver boycott yesterday.
Competition started precisely on time in the track and field events yesterday, to the surprise of some commentators. Olympic triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards, who saw the condition of the track and infield on the eve of the first events, had described it as "beyond anything that I imagined".
A last-minute rush to fix and clean sections of the track and re-lay turf in the infield - caused by vehicle and human traffic during Monday's spectacular opening ceremony - got the stadium in good enough shape for the international track federation to approve it for competition hours before athletes were set to race.
England's Mark Lewis-Francis won the first heat in a men's 100m field lacking the Commonwealth's biggest star, Usain Bolt, shortly after the competition kicked off with the women's parasports shot put.
Uganda's Moses Ndiema Kipsiro won the first gold medal of the track programme, holding off Kenya's Olympic silver medallist Eliud Kipchoge to finish in 13 min 31.25 sec.
However, with one problem solved, another took its place. Press Trust of India reported that 800 bus drivers had stopped turning up for Games duties because of long hours and heavy security, but organisers were bringing in more than 900 local drivers instead.
The bad news is, there's no time for training. On the upside, most are local school bus drivers who are not busy because school and college students are on holiday.
The driver boycott was not among the problems Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell and local organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi addressed at a news conference yesterday, where Fennell promised that "all systems are go" for the track and field competition.
Kalmadi, asked why most stadiums were almost empty on the third day of competition, said an additional 50,000 tickets had been sold on Wednesday.
He had earlier said organisers might have to give away tickets to children and low-income people to fill seats.
Another technical glitch which upset some boxers at the weigh-in was fixed, with Kalmadi saying faulty scales had been checked.
World record holder Gagan Narang has been on target at the shooting range to help shift some of the spotlight to sports. After helping India claim its first gold of the Games on Wednesday, he shot a perfect 600 in qualifying for the 10m air rifle and then set a Games record of 103.6 points in the final round to win his second New Delhi gold - at the expense of compatriot and Beijing Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra. That was India's sixth gold medal, keeping the hosts in second place.
Indian shooters collected two of the other three golds on offer at the range yesterday and the host country finished day three of competition with 11 gold medals and 24 medals overall.
Australia leads the way with 21 gold medals and 46 overall after 53 events. Its cyclists collected the first three golds yesterday before Malaysia's Josiah Ng won a dramatic men's keirin race to end a run of six wins for the Aussies.
Another Malaysian, Azizul Hasni Awang, crossed first in the keirin but was relegated to last for aggressive riding.
Teenager Megan Dunn produced an upset win over world champion Tara Whitten of Canada to win the women's points race for Australia, which also won the women's team sprint and the 40km points race for men.
The Australian swimmers won six of the nine gold medals in the evening pool programme, including both 4x200m relays.
Alicia Coutts collected her second gold in two days by winning the women's 100 freestyle, and teammate Leisel Jones led an Australian sweep of the medals in the 200 breaststroke.
Jason Dunford, a US-based swimmer, won Kenya's first gold in the 50m butterfly, holding off returning veteran Geoff Huegill of Australia and former world record holder Roland Schoeman of South Africa.
James Goddard won the 200 backstroke, helping England boost its tally of golds to six and 26 medals overall. South African Cameron van der Burgh won the 100 breaststroke, and Australia's Matthew Cowdrey improved his own world record in the Paralympic 50 S9 category, winning in 25.33sec.
- AP
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 9:09 AM,
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Swimmers fall ill at Commonwealth Games in India
By DENNIS PASSA
More than a dozen swimmers from Australia and England have fallen ill at the Commonwealth Games in the latest setback for trouble-plagued organizers in New Delhi.
British media reported Thursday that 20 percent of the England team's swimmers — about eight to 10 competitors — had been struck down with a stomach virus. The Australian team confirmed at least six of its swimmers had been sick, including Andrew Lauterstein, who had to withdraw from the 50-meter butterfly.
Organizers rejected speculation that the water quality at the aquatics complex was to blame.
Craig Hunter, the head of England's delegation, issued a statement saying he had received assurances from the games' organizing committee that water was safe. The England team said only 8 percent of its 541-member delegation had experienced any kind of stomach virus in the previous 28 days, which was lower than expected. That's 43 people from one team in a month.
Whether it was the water or just a case of "Delhi Belly," which isn't uncommon for visitors to India, it was yet another problem to plague an event that has been seen construction delays, pre-games complaints about filthy conditions in the athletes' village, allegations of corruption and concerns about security and outbreaks of mosquito-borne dengue fever.
In another development, police confirmed Thursday that three Ugandan officials were injured by a malfunctioning security barrier at the games' village, and a senior official from that country raised allegations of discrimination by Indian officials.
Late Thursday, a scoreboard crashed to the ground when a chain support snapped at the rugby venue, where competition does not begin until next week.
Competition manager Kevin Culliver told the games news service that the board was lifted into place two days ago by the company responsible for results and scores at the games. He said it was lucky that the crash came when no spectators were around.
For the fourth consecutive day, computer and technical problems meant there was no way to centrally process results from individual venues.
Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell said officials would conduct tests on both the main pool and the warmup pool at the Dr. S.P. Makherjee Aquatic Complex.
Fennell was asked if the swimming competition, which on Thursday was in its fourth of six days of events, might be canceled or moved if tests showed the pools to be unsafe.
"I would not like to speculate about this immediately," Fennell said. "If there is something unsafe, you cannot swim in that water. It is a matter we have to deal with a great deal of urgency."
The synchronized swimming event proceeded on schedule, while the main pool was idle ahead of the evening's session of finals.
Just before the finals program began, pool announcer Kurt Hanson, brother of former Australian Olympic swimmer Brooke Hanson, told spectators: "Let us assure you there is nothing wrong with the water here."
"The way these athletes train, their immune system is so low that they tend to pick up any bug that is going around," he said.
Hunter had earlier said England had asked organizers for safety assurances Thursday, despite regular testing of the pool.
"If they tell us the water is fit, it's fit," Hunter said.
Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe said he didn't think the swimming pool was the cause of the illness.
"I'd be surprised if it was the pool because chlorine has an amazing ability to kill just about anything that we have ever created," said Thorpe, who has retired from swimming and is working here as a TV commentator for the BBC.
Australian swim team spokesman Lachlan Searle said Lauterstein could not take part in training on Thursday morning and that Hayden Stoeckel, who won a silver medal Tuesday in the men's 50-meter backstroke, also could not train.
"Our doctors are looking into it ," he said.
England swim team spokesman Dave Richards said reports of the sickness had been wildly exaggerated, saying none of his country's swimmers "has missed a competition at all."
The questions over the pool came as Uganda's sports minister lashed out Indian officials and demanded an apology for an accident at the athlete's village.
Three Ugandan officials were injured Tuesday night when a spiked security barrier, which normally recedes into the ground to allow authorized vehicles to pass safely, malfunction, shot up and slammed into their car as they drove, New Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.
The officials, including the Ugandan chef de mission William Tumwine, were thrown about the car as it braked sharply and sustained injuries ranging from cuts on the head to abrasions around their eyes, said Dora Kutesan, a Ugandan diplomat.
They were treated at a hospital and kept overnight for observation, and the Ugandan high commission filed a complaint with the Indian government, she said.
Ugandan Sports Minister Charles Bakkabulindi said he was furious that he had not received an apology from India.
"If they had seen their mistake quickly and shown sympathy that they have done a mistake, we wouldn't have been annoyed. We would have said, 'OK that's an accident,'" he told India's Times Now television. "But our concern is why is it that they are not coming out to say sorry to us, to make an apology. Should we take it that they are discriminating (against) some of the African countries to that extent?"
The games, which run until Oct. 14, have also been plagued this week by sparse attendance at many events. Organizing committee chief Suresh Kalmadi said 125,000 tickets had been sold Wednesday for future events, allaying concerns about the empty seats at some of the venues.
Labels: Commonwealth Games, India
posted @ 9:07 AM,
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India cheers wildly for Pakistan
Thursday, October 7, 2010
When teams entered the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony Sunday in New Delhi, the biggest cheer of the night – after India – was reserved for Pakistan.
As sustained applause rang out across the stadium, with much of the 50,000-strong audience on their feet, at least a few spectators on both sides of the border wondered: Could this be a sign that it's time to end the conflict that has plagued relations since the birth of both countries, for once and for all?
"It was a spontaneous cheer that no one expected, and shows that a bond exists," says Suhasini Haidar, anchor and deputy foreign editor with India's CNN subsidiary, CNN-IBN.
Many stumbling blocks remain in their volatile bilateral relationship, not least of all the recent admission by former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that Pakistani authorities trained militants to fight in India in the disputed Kashmir region. Still, athletes and sports spectators alike have recently spoken of goodwill during the Commonwealth Games highlighting a possible reason to step toward a new, improved relationship.
"Whenever I have come here, people have showered me with love and support. Playing here is like playing at home for me," Pakistani tennis player Aqeel Khan told a local newsagency on Monday.
His teammate Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi is perhaps Pakistan’s strongest medal hope, after reaching the final of the US Open tennis men's doubles this year. In an indication of just how positive cross-border ties can yield results, Mr. Qureshi's partner at the September tournament in New York was India's Rohan Bopanna.
"People seem to think that bad relations at a government level means bad relations across the board," says Ms. Haidar, the news anchor. "But as someone who travels often to Pakistan and lives here, it's not something I see translating on the ground. In fact it's quite the opposite."
Tensions run deep
However, Suba Chandran, the deputy director of Delhi's Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, is somewhat more cynical. He points out that the same goodwill was shown a few years ago in Karachi during a cricket match between India and Pakistan, when local spectators gave the Indian team a standing ovation after its win.
Labels: Commonwealth Games, India, Pakistan
posted @ 9:22 AM,
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Commonwealth Games: Where are all the spectators?
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
By Ben Arnoldy
Buoyed by Sunday's jubilant opening ceremonies, Indians came out to watch the opening matches of the Commonwealth Games – just not in big numbers, yet.
Early telecasts of badminton, netball, and swimming showed empty seats around the courts and pool. At the gymnastics stadium, mere hundreds of spectators took seats in the 14,000-capacity venue. Only a few hundred more were on hand to watch one of India’s early gold hopefuls in female weightlifting.
India bid to host the quadrennial international games both to showcase its rising power status and to inspire more participation and interest in sports among the country’s youth. The low turnout, so far, may speak to the host of problems that plagued the preparations and the relatively low interest in sports in India – with the crucial exception of cricket.
“Indians are more into cricket and they don’t, I think, understand these other games’ importance,” says Aabid Hussain, who attended the women’s weightlifting event with his son Awais. “They should be involved in more and more games, not just cricket. Cricket is not everything.”
Attendance could pick up
It's not that India isn't good at other sports: The country has so far taken two medals – a silver and a bronze, both in female weightlifting – out of the first 21 awarded. Traditional powerhouse Australia leads with six medals.
“India got two medals, I am proud for India,” says Mr. Hussain.
But there's reason to believe things could pick up. Some later semifinals and finals competitions are selling out, particularly those involving popular Indian athletes or rival Pakistan, according to Manav Jaitly, a ticket manager.
Also, the TV broadcasts can be deceptive: The most expensive seats are near the field of play, and even those with good incomes often go for the cheaper seats up in the rafters.
Affordable family outing
The priciest tickets top out at $22. Most venues have cheap seats for $2 to $6. Tickets for lawn bowls, or bocce, go for a dollar, and some of the shooting events are free.
And with schools on recess in Delhi for the games, the event became an affordable family outing for some.
Anoop Garg came with his family and his brother’s family to watch gymnastics – something they have only seen on TV before.
“We have opportunities to see cricket and other sports, but not gymnastics,” says Mr. Garg, an accountant. “It’s also good for the children to see how they can make their bodies flexible.”
“And it increases stamina,” pipes in his 9-year-old niece, Vidushi Garg. Asked if she wants to be a gymnast, she says no. Why not? “I don’t like sports.”
Garg and his nine-member family skipped the opening ceremonies because the affordable tickets sold out early and the only available tickets, starting at $110, were too pricey. But, those who watched it – either on TV or in person – expressed happiness with the spectacle.
Uncertainty amid problems
The Indian media trumpeted the ceremony on the morning’s front pages, apparently relieved to have positive news to report about a games that were heading for disaster amid missed deadlines, shoddy construction, and allegations of corruption.
“A Great Indian Start to Games,” read the Indian Express. “A Spectacular Start,” crowed the Hindustan Times.
In both India and Pakistan, news about the ceremony highlighted how the Indian crowd cheered the Pakistani team louder than any other visiting athletes.
The uncertainty about whether the games would pull together may also have played a roll in the empty seats on the first day of competition.
“The people were not sure if the games would be held or not,” saws A. Maheshwari, an accountant who came to watch gymnastics with his son Anuj. In the end, “the stadiums were ready, but people were confused.”
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 11:18 PM,
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Commonwealth Games 2010: Day one round-up
Archer Danielle Brown has become the first English Paralympian to compete at an able-bodied Commonwealth event.
Brown, 22, came 14th in her individual compound archery qualification round.
"I haven't made a big fuss over it," she said. "I'm trying not to get over-excited because I don't want to put myself under any additional pressure."
Meanwhile, England's Josh Goodall and James Ward both began the Commonwealth tennis tournament with victories on the opening day of competition in Delhi.
Goodall beat St Lucia's Richelieu Alberton 6-2 6-2 while Ward defeated the Solomon Islands' Michael Patrick Leong 6-1 6-1 in the men's singles.
Josh Milton of Wales beat Kenya's Francis Thuku Mwangi 6-0 6-2.
However, Scotland's Mhairi Brown - Jamie Murray's mixed doubles partner - lost her women's singles opener 6-2 6-1 to Australia's Olivia Rogowska.
Guernsey's Patrick Ogier and Heather Watson beat Marvin Rolle and Larikah Russell of the Bahamas 6-7 6-4 7-5.
In netball, England began their campaign with a storming 81-20 victory over Barbados, while New Zealand briefly threatened a world record scoreline as they defeated Papua New Guinea 102-21.
The Welsh women's hockey team were also on the receiving end of a strong New Zealand performance, going down 5-1 to the Black Sticks , while Scotland stunned hosts India to take the lead in their encounter, before being pegged back for a 1-1 draw.
Hockey highlights - Scotland 1-1 India
England, the 2002 Commonwealth champions, overcame the Falkland Islands 5-0 to underline their medal ambitions in badminton's team event, even without Nathan Robertson, England's flagbearer at the opening ceremony, taking part in the first session.
Anthony Clark defeated the Falklands' Douglas Clark and Michael Stewart 21-3 21-7 alongside new partner, Chris Adcock.
"It wasn't the toughest match of my life, but this tournament is about the smaller nations getting a chance as well," said Clark.
Other English victors included Carl Baxter in the mens' singles, Liz Cann in the women's singles, Adcock and Gabby White in the mixed doubles, and Heather Olver and Maria Agathangelou in the women's doubles.
There were singles squash victories for Scottish duo Alan Clyne and Frania Gillen-Buchert on the opening day, Clyne beating Nicholas Kyme of Bermuda 3-0 while Gillen-Buchert defeated Guyana's Ashley Khalil 3-0.
English pair Daryl Selby and Peter Barker were also 3-0 winners, disposing of Michael Rucklinger (Papua New Guinea) and Kelvin Ndhlovu (Zambia) respectively.
Guernsey's Issey Norman-Ross beat Kerrie Sample of Trinidad 3-0 and Chris Simpson won by the same score against Julius Taulo (Malawi).
Jersey's Jeannine Cowie was a 3-2 winner over Barbara Stubbings (Papua New Guinea) but team-mate Kate Cardigan went down 3-0 against Miranda Ranieri of Canada.
Scotland's lawn bowls campaign started in defeat as Willie Woods and triples team-mates Wayne Hogg and David Peacock went down 1.5-0.5 against Malta and 2-0 against South Africa at the J N Sports Complex.
In the women's pairs, England beat Wales 1.5-0.5 while Scotland and Wales drew 1-1.
There were 3-0 defeats for Wales against Australia in the women's table tennis singles - Naomi Owen lost to Jian Fang Lay, Charlotte Carey went down against Maio Miao and Angharad Phillips was beaten by Vivian Zhenhua Tan.
Naomi Folkard finished third in her individual recurve archery qualification round at with a score of 642, ahead of fellow Beijing Olympian Alison Williamson in sixth and Amy Oliver in seventh. Scotland's Lilian Downie finished 19th.
In the men's event, English trio Larry Godfrey, Simon Terry and Alan Wills finished sixth, seventh and 11th respectively.
Holly Cram (11) celebrates scoring for Scotland against India
Northern Ireland's Mark Nesbitt was 17th and Scottish trio James Laing, Simon Needham and Mark Forrester finished 19th, 25th and 27th.
In the compound archery, Paralympic gold medallist Brown helped England qualify in second place overall, behind Canada, in the team event.
"I haven't competed in a major able-bodied event before so it could well be an opportunity of a lifetime," said Brown, who has reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a condition which causes pain in her feet and requires that she compete with the aid of a stool manufactured to her requirements.
Nicky Hunt and Nichola Simpson, her fellow women's team members, finished second and fourth respectively in the individual standings, with Claudine Jennings third and Tracey McGowan fifth for Scotland, Lucy O'Sullivan eighth for Jersey and Tracey Anderson 11th for Wales.
The men's compound qualification round saw England's Duncan Busby finish second, ahead of team-mates Liam Grimwood in fifth and Christopher White in 12th.
Tapani Kalmaru led the Welsh challenge in fourth, while Alistair Whittingham was the highest-placed Scot in 16th. Stuart Wilson finished 19th for Northern Ireland. [v]
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 11:13 PM,
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Let the games begin
Monday, October 4, 2010
In front of a 65,000-strong audience that included the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Earl of Wessex, 7,000 dancers, drummers and acrobats came together to showcase India's vibrant cultural heritage.
But the celebratory atmosphere inside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was tempered by the news that potentially lethal dengue fever has broken out in the athletes' village.
An Indian lawn bowling official, Ruptu Gogoi, is the first person inside the complex to contract the mosquito-borne disease, which has affected 3,500 people in New Delhi this year and claimed seven lives.
Security around the venue was so tight that ticket holders typically took three hours to get through 19 concentric checkpoints in the ring of steel surrounding the main Games venue.
But once inside the stadium the crowd was treated to a once in a lifetime performance that started on time and went without a hitch.
The centrepiece of the evening was a £5.5 million helium balloon that rose into the sky to ecstatic cheers after a countdown beaten out on giant drums.
Earlier in the day The Duchess of Cornwall sweltered in 34C heat as she compared the sticky, humid conditions in New Delhi to "a sauna" when she and the Prince visited the athletes' village.
Sheltering under a white parasol and sipping water from a plastic cup, the Duchess asked Commonwealth Games athletes how they were coping with the heat and joked: "It's good for losing weight." The Duchess chatting to two bare-chested British decathletes, Tom Reynolds, 25, from Northern Ireland, who is also a part-time model, and Roger Skedd, 28, from Scotland, telling them: "You're suitably dressed, gentlemen!"
After asking the muscular athletes how they were coping with the heat, she told them, with a smile: "You guys look very fit." The Prince and the Duchess also met 16 bikini-clad members of Australia's women's hockey team, who waded out of a recovery pool to greet them.
With sweat breaking out on his forehead, the Prince was asked if he was hot in his suit and tie, and told 24-year-old Rachael Lynch: "I'm very jealous of you in the pool."
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 9:56 PM,
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Africa has highest, Americas the least countries at CWG
Africa has the highest number of countries and the Americas the least among the 71 nations and territories from five continents and two regions participating in the 19th Commonwealth Games that opened here Sunday.
Comprising over 6,700 athletes and officials, the 71 teams make the 19th edition of the Games the biggest ever.
Here is a continent-wise break up of the participating countries and territories and their population:
Africa: 19
Botswana - 1,950,000, Cameroon - 19,522,000, Ghana - 23,837,000, Kenya - 39,856,000, Lesotho - 2,000,000, Malawi - 15,884,000, Mauritius - 1,285,000, Mozambique - 22,892,000, Namibia - 2,131,000, Nigeria - 154,796,000, Rwanda - 9,998,000, Seychelles - 84,000, Sierra Leone - 5,695,000, South Africa - 49,423,000, Swaziland - 1,182,000, Tanzania - 43,729,000, The Gambia - 1,717,000, Uganda - 32,816,000, Zambia - 12,935,000.
The Americas: 6
Belize - 322,130, Bermuda - 64,209, Canada - 34,053,000, Falkland Islands - 3,140, Guyana - 761,000,St.Helena - 7,670.
Asia: 8
Bangladesh - 162,221,000, Brunei - 400,000, India - 1,173,230,000, Malaysia - 28,356,000, Maldives - 329,000, Pakistan - 154,796,000, Singapore - 4,986,000, Sri Lanka - 20,743,000.
The Caribbean: 15
Anguilla - 14,436, Antigua and Barbuda - 88,000, Bahamas - 342,000, Barbados - 279,000, British Virgin Islands - 22,000, Cayman Islands - 49,035, Dominica - 79,000, Grenada - 103,000, Jamaica - 2,721,000, Montserrat - 5,879, St. Kitts and Nevis - 52,000, St. Lucia - 171,000, St. Vincent and The Grenadines - 1,19,000, Trinidad and Tobago - 1,335,000, Turks and Caicos Islands - 22,942
Europe: 10
Britain (participating as England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) - 61,609,500, Cyprus - 794,200, Malta - 412,668, Gibraltar - 30,000, Guernsey - 65,726, Isle of Man - 76,512, Jersey - 92,500
Oceania: 13
Australia - 22,073,000, Cook Islands - 13,000, Kiribati - 99,000, Nauru - 14,000, New Zealand - 4,317,972, Niue - 1,398, Norfolk Island - 2,141, Papua New Guinea - 6,737,000, Samoa - 185,000, Solomon Islands - 913,000, Tonga - 102,000, Tuvalu - 12,000, Vanuatu - 241,000.
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 9:53 PM,
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The 2010 Commonwealth Games Begins
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The 2010 Commonwealth Games ceremony started in New Delhi on Sunday with a near-capacity 60,000 crowd rapturously applauding the opening laser display.
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, were introduced to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium along with Indian President Prathiba Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the audience stood for the national anthem.
Nagada drummers beat out the countdown to the opening accompanied by traditional Shankha trumpeters as the stadium lights were dimmed and the "Aerostat", a reportedly nine-million-dollar (400-million-rupee) white helium-filled balloon, rose 25 metres (80 feet) above ground level.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Indian capital were expected to line the streets, with a global television audience of more than a billion watching the two-and-a-half-hour event which heralds 11 days of competition.
More than 4,000 competitors are expected to take part from 71 countries.
The Games are the 19th in total and only the second to be staged in Asia, following Kuala Lumpur 1998.
Labels: Commonwealth Games
posted @ 9:57 PM,
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Can India Pull Off The Commonwealth Games?
Monday, September 27, 2010
The folks at Commonwealth Games Committee were targeting sponsorship of Rs. 1,200 crore. Till now they have sold sponsorships worth Rs. 342 crore. The huge negative publicity campaign seems to have done some damage. Many large corporate houses have not signed on as yet. As we go to press it appears that most of the sponsors were large public sector undertakings like NTPC, Air India and Central Bank of India. On the broadcast right front, the situation is only a little better. The official target was to get Rs. 211 crore. What they have is Rs. 156 crore.
Will They Come and Watch?
One key area of audience participation will be people who buy tickets to see the events live. On this front too the results have been fairly downbeat. A total 1.7 million tickets are on sale; till now about 200,000 have been sold. Only about one-tenth of the revenue target from ticket sales has been achieved. The good news is that our eternal hope — hockey — continues to be the big crowd puller and more than 60,000 tickets have been sold. Games authorities believe that once foreign tourists start arriving the sales should increase.
Drop Outs
A huge disappointment for the Games has been the large list of drop-outs. Topping the list is the fastest man on the planet: Usain Bolt of Jamaica. If he had turned up the athletics section would have become the most watched event. Olympic track cyclist Victoria Pendleton is another big name gone. She was a gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics. The 800 metres record holder David Rudisha and world heptathlon champion Jessica Enis too have decided to give the Games a miss. Samantha Stosur, Australian tennis player, who had a great French Open and turned in a very good performance at the US Open, has also decided to not come to India. The Australians continue to be unkind to India because the winner of four gold medals, Stephanie Rice, has opted out. Hers is an injury-related case but even so the commonwealth Games lose their sheen a bit.
Tourist Arrivals
Hotel occupancy right now in the Delhi market is around 40 to 70 percent. It is expected to be between 50 and 80 percent during the Games. Hoteliers who spoke to Forbes India were anticipating occupancies running close to 100 percent. The tariff too is expected to be 5 to 10 percent more than the present rates during the Games. No patch on the doubling of rate that was expected. Of course, hotels are not built just for the Games.
But the Games can be an important fillip for the hospitality industry. “Other than the tame response in hotel bookings, what has hurt most is that the whole business community is moving away from the city. For the whole period of the Games, there are no conferences, seminars and no tourists are coming in. And weddings are also not happening,” says Manav Thadani, MD, HVS India, a hospitality consulting firm. According to HVS, in the last two years, around 6,000 new rooms have been added in Delhi and NCR. This includes around 4,500 rooms in the last one year. But this is nothing compared to the original projections of a few years ago that was more than 20,000 rooms. Now everyone is talking about too much competition and too low occupancies.
Sports Infrastructure
The good news is that almost all venues, at least the interiors, are ready now. Of course, work outside many games venues, such as clearing rubble, beautification, landscaping etc. is still pending. The Games Organising Committee is spending Rs. 20 crore on covering the dilapidated buildings, bridges, subways, underpasses, slum clusters, etc. The work has been contracted to four private firms that have been assigned different areas to work on. These wall wraps will also create a buzz for the Games and have been put up in Connaught Place (CP) to hide the incomplete subways.
The bad news is that many major works going on around the city are unlikely to be completed. For instance, a flyover over the Delhi-Noida-Delhi expressway on the Noida link road that leads to the Games Village from the east is unlikely to be completed. Only three subways at CP will be completed. The rest were half dug but are now being filled up again. At CP, merchant establishments have been working without credit card machines because of disruptions due to digging. The entire parking lot at Shanker Market and the shops’ interiors will not be completed in time, Palika Bazaar will not be getting the elevators installed as was the initial plan.
Delhiites Upset
Unlike during the Asian Games of 1982, the people of Delhi appear to see it as a disruption of their normal life. The Asian Games mascot Appu was an immensely popular figure across the country but Shera has hardly created a buzz. Appu was ubiquitous with tremendous merchandising support. Shera is hardly visible.
During the games, Delhiites are likely to face quite a bit of difficulty around the Games venues and approaches. In several places, one lane, sometimes half of an entire carriageway, has been exclusively designated for CWG traffic.
Mosquito threat to the Games Village is very real because it is on the Yamuna’s bank and is surrounded by fields and marshes that are currently flooded. Japanese encephalitis, viral fever and dengue are widespread in the city.
Labels: Commonwealth Games, India
posted @ 8:56 AM,
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Scary and chaotic, but India's Commonwealth Games will go ahead
By Jonathan McEvoy in Delhi
Just one jammed, horn-honking road away from the Commonwealth Games stadium, the smoke of burning bodies blew high into the air above the cemetery fence.
In the eyes of the world it could have symbolised how India is piling up a funeral pyre for the old, wilting sporting event it is meant to be staging nine days from now.
The evidence to support that proposition — not least in yesterday's pictures showing the grime-infested athletes' village — is vast.
Commonwealth fever: A worker sprays chemicals in rain water outside the Athlete's Village to prevent the spread of dengue fever
Commonwealth fever: A worker sprays chemicals in rain water outside the Athlete's Village to prevent the spread of dengue fever
No nation aspiring to a serious place on the world stage can have gone about its business with less organised guile.
But my first-hand, if snapshot, experience after arriving here yesterday morning is that the Games will probably go ahead, in one diminished form or another.
As JK Galbraith, U.S. ambassador to India observed of this diverse nation in the 1960s, it amounts to 'functioning anarchy'.
One reason for my mild optimism is the sheer manpower at India’s disposal.
Only yesterday, with the carrot of perhaps 200 rupees, or nearly £3, they managed to enlist an extra 1,000 workers to undertake last-minute remedial work on the village alone.
There were others laying tarmac, grouting, sanding and sweeping throughout the other sites.
It helps when you have one billion people, most of them desperate for a folding note, to call upon.
There is also, I detected, a desire among those here to prove the world wrong.
On my arrival in Delhi — at an airport recently built to a high standard, thanks to private rather than government money — the staff were unfailingly polite.
It was a trait discernible in everyone I met.
There were special queue-avoiding routes for those of us with Commonwealth Games accreditation.
The special counter must have had 20 staff. I was the only arrival. Had they not heard that next to nobody was coming?
On to the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the proposed centrepiece of the Games.
The blue seats were all in, bar one or two. There was the odd rough edge, but it was an impressive bowl worthy of any sporting occasion.
‘Some of the work started in 2007 rather than 2003,’ said one German employee brought in for his expertise on such events.
‘Everything is behind schedule. This is an Indian speciality — to get it finished at the last minute.
'When they say it is ready, they mean something different from what we in the West think it means.
‘We will deliver, though. We can be quite sure of that.’
Can we be that certain?
It was only on Tuesday that the footbridge connecting the car park to the stadium collapsed, injuring 20 workers.
Part of the weight-lifting ceiling fell down the next day. And as for the athlete’s village, more of that vile cesspit to come.
The broken bridge is visible from the window of the German’s office. Only the arch remains.
What if the stadium falls down mid-competition?
‘I am sure it will be OK,’ he said.
‘The outer walls of this stadium were built for the Asian Games in 1982. They are still standing.’
An army of soldiers marched through the stadium area. They carried guns that went from their waists to their shoulders. Some ambled and lolled on the fence.
The Grenadier Guards outside Buckingham Palace they weren’t, but they were there in profusion and security checks were just about stringent enough.
A few miles away, the TV cameras were lined up at the entrance to the village. Yellow barriers with ‘Delhi Police’ on them stopped each car and pedestrian for the right accreditation.
I asked if a bribe could get me in. I was told that a week or so ago it would have done.
But now, in light of the furore over the conditions inside and the fact that the first athletes were arriving, it was impossible.
If you can’t corrupt an official in India, where can you?
Two street dogs swaggered in. Perhaps they were looking for a bed for the night, based on the paw marks, captured in pictures, on the linen meant for athletes to sleep on.
Those images, revealed yesterday, are vile.
But it is hardly surprising when in the streets outside there needs to be a sign next to a grapefruit stall imploring: ‘Do not urinate here.’
Someone I spoke to said workers had used a lavatory on the site for weeks despite the water not running.
‘What the West thinks as of as acceptable is not the same as what India thinks,’ said another Games’ employee.
‘They are sufficient unto themselves.’
The roads — the worst for crazy, lane jig-jagging I have witnessed, with the possible exception of Shanghai — were teeming.
A designated Games lane was intermittently closed yesterday. The backlogs were severe, although not worse in density than High Holborn at rush hour.
The inconvenience to the locals is one reason why The Times of India, who have been laudably independent in their coverage, carried a poll declaring that 97 per cent of the country believe the Games have tarnished India’s image.
They also can’t be pleased about the expense. Costs have gone up 525 per cent since the city won the bid. That is the official estimate.
Unofficially, it is up 1,575 per cent, or 15 times the original estimate. Apparently that equates to £2billion-plus.
What is certain is that the unusually severe monsoon has caused the Yamuna river to disgorge its worst flooding for 32 years. Its surplus water is all around the village.
In those still pools, mosquito-borne dengue fever thrives.
Three have died of it in Delhi this year, according to official figures. It has briefly indisposed several more, including the man from the Sydney Morning Herald, whose hand I shook warily.
Personally, I’m happy to apply the Jungle Formula, cover up and hope for the best. Not that the authorities were taking chances. They were fogging — flushing away the mosquitos with a giant jet-wash style hose — as I left for my hotel.
By then, the lights were going on at the Nehru stadium, named after India’s first Prime Minister, who ushered in post-British India with the beguiling phrase: ‘At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.’
The Games look like they will go on, in their own, scatty way. Pride depends on it.
But with athletes withdrawn, deadlines fumbled and security and safety concerns all too real, it will be the most chaotic and scary edition in Commonwealth history.
Labels: Commonwealth Games, India
posted @ 8:34 AM,
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India's $10m 'bribe' to win Commonwealth Games
Friday, September 24, 2010
Australia received a $125,000 kickback after India won the Commonwealth Games in a $10 million palm-greasing exercise that has spectacularly backfired.
Delhi sealed the right to host the Games when their delegates emerged at the final presentation in Jamaica and offered all 72 nations $US100,000 (then about $140,000) each for athlete training schemes if they were the successful bidders.
The money, subsequently paid to all nations, was not significant to Australia because it had already decided to vote for India and the payment was not an exceptionally large one.
But for small nations who have minimal interest in the Games, it clinched their vote and India went on to beat Canadian city Hamilton 46-22 in the final poll. Hamilton had offered the nations about $70,000 each.
Hamilton's bid organisers, and many of the nations who voted for them, fired off angry protests about India buying votes and the bad blood generated between several feuding nations still exists.
The Commonwealth Games Association has decided to ban 11th-hour inducements as a consequence of the outrage over India's tactics.
The revelation comes as photos and video footage taken secretly inside the Games compound show just how squalid the athletes' village is.
Undercover reporters from The Australian and The Daily Telegraph reported seeing filthy toilets, widespread flooding and children defecating in the street.
The images raise more questions about India's ability to bring the Games facilities up to scratch before the opening ceremony on October 3.
The India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called an emergency meeting of his ministers last night to deal with the crisis and Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell was flying into Delhi early today to meet Singh and Games officials.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit met national team leaders from 25 countries to discuss their concerns about the athletes' village
Australian team general manager Perry Crosswhite said the workforce of cleaners and maintenance staff had increased "ten-fold" in the village yesterday.
"They have elevated their response and brought in people who have the power to make it happen," Crosswhite said.
As well as an army of cleaners, bomb squad officers and dogs have been deployed outside the village as security forces took control, weeks after the original scheduled lockdown deadline.
Labels: Bribe, Commonwealth Games, India
posted @ 8:46 PM,
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