XIX Commonwealth Games Delhi, India

XIX Commonwealth Games Delhi, India

Delhi 2010 Organising Committee
Gate No. 28A, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Lodhi Road
New Delhi 110003
India
Tel: +91 11 2436 7928 / 7929 / 7930
Fax: +91 11 2436 7931

Organising Committee
Chairman Mr Suresh Kalmadi MP
Vice Chairman Raj Randhir Singh
Secretary General Dr Lalit Bhanot

New Delhi Games Village 2010

New Delhi is a business and political hub for India since medivial times till date. This is what it is famous for, in and outside India. It had an opportunity to host the Asian Games in 1981 but that was way back. It has regained its reputation as a business and political hub since then. What really is happening now is that New Delhi has to prove and present itself as a city which is a sports hub too apart from being just what it is.

New Delhi Games Village is something completly new that is happening in New Delhi or even in India

The Indian capital will have five new stadiums and a Games Village for the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in October.

One indoor stadium each will be constructed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for weightlifting, Indira Gandhi Sports Complex for wrestling, Siri Fort for badminton and squash and Yamuna Complex for table tennis.

New Delhi games village plan

A 47.3 hectare (118 acre) picturesque site has been selected on the banks of the holy river Yamuna. To be created at a cost of USD 40 million, the Games Village has been underwritten by the government. There will be no cost to the Organizing Committee. Within its immediate vicinity are heritage monuments and historical landmarks. Combined with the dense green natural cover on the sides, it will be a relaxing and soothing environment for the athletes and officials. Athletes and Officials from all sports will stay at this one village. This facility will provide ultimate world class facility to the athlete. The development is in full swing.

Delhi University was asked to build the Aquatics Center but its inability to build it due to many different reasons have been shown, other venues for holding aquatics events and rugby were under review.

The government is on the look out for many other venues in and around New Delhi to hold many different events. The planning are all complete and it's just the implementation that is taking place.

Setting out a time table, government said the work on sports venues was proposed to be completed by December 2009, which is a kind of risk if you compare it with the dates when the games are supposed to start, the Games Village by August 2010 and civic infrastructure in phases by September 2010.

Commonwealth Games 2010 Overview

The commonwealth is NOT a political union of any sort, and it does not allow exercise of any power over the affairs of the organization's members. As it looks like, the organization is not made to influence any country economically or politically or to practice the strength of one country over the other but it is meant to establish and strengthen a friendly relationship between the member countries to help each others in future.

So, let me explain, in a layman's language (the way I have learned) what Commonwealth and Commonwealth Games are all about.

The Commonwealth is primarily an organization in which countries with diverse economic backgrounds have an opportunity for close and equal interaction. The primary activities of the Commonwealth are designed to create an atmosphere of economic co-operation between member nations, as well as the promotion of democracy, human rights, and good governance in those nations.

As you might have guessed by now, the various sports activities like Aquatics, Athletics, Badminton, Bowls, Boxing, Cycling, EAD Events, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Rugby 7s, Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis and Weightlifting are all meant to bring the countries together to strengthen the relationships. This time (2006) it was Australia next time (2010) it will be India.

The important part to remember here is, just because you are a member country, this does not give you the right to organize the Commonwealth Games in your country. There are criterion that the member country has to meet before it can even "bid" for the commonwealth games to be held on its land.

You got a new term there, BID. Yes you heard that right, a member country actually has to place a bid and win the bid so that the games could be played on its land. India has won the bid last time over Canada. This is a moment of great pride that the events are going to be held in India, they not only won the bid but they are actually very close to meet all the deadlines that were given to prepare for the games and improve the infrastructure according to the international standards.

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India to bid for Youth Olympic Games in 2014

India will bid to host the first ever Youth Olympic Games, to be introduced in 2014 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said in Pune on July 22.

The IOC's decision to launch the Youth Olympic Games in 2010 has been received with optimism by Indians.

India, who dropped the idea of bidding for 2016 Olympic games after their 2014 Asian Games bid failed in Kuwait, feel hosting the second edition of Youth Games in 2014 would be "a stepping stone" in their efforts to grab the rights for the 2020 Games.

IOC president Jacques Rogge proposed at a recent meeting in Guatemala City that Youth Olympic Games were required to get the increasing number of "couch potatoes" on to the track or in the swimming pool.

The IOC plans to use the Youth Olympics as an opportunity to give hosting rights to cities that missed out on the Olympics themselves. The games would be staged for participants aged between 12 to 18 years and selection would be done 18 months before the event is held.

Mr. Kalmadi said the IOC has been giving a lot of stress on the youth of the world and hence they have decided to introduce the Youth Olympic Games in addition to the Summer and Winter Olympics, to not only promote the Olympic sports but also have their total involvement in sports activities.

Expressing great optimism, Mr. Kalmadi, who heades the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games to be held at the Shiv Chhatarapati Sports City Mahalunge-Balewadi near here from October 12 to 18 next year, said India will certainly come out successful in its bidding after having been entrusted with responsibilities of hosting the 2008 CYG in Pune and later the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

He said he hopes that the IOA will be channelising all its efforts in bidding for the 2020 Olympic Games in the country. The bidding for the games will start in 2011 and the final decision would be taken in 2013, Mr. Kalmadi informed.

He said all the nine venues for the ensuing 2008 CYG will be completed and handed over to the Games Organising Committee on May 31 next year. ''I have no doubt that the work has been going on in a fierce pace despite the onslaught of the monsoon. It would be completed much before the due date,'' Mr. Kalmadi elaborated.

“This will give us the much needed time to test all the venues by hosting competitions in each of the nine disciplines namely -- athletics, swimming, tennis, badminton, shooting, boxing, weightlifting, wrestling and table tennis,” he said.

With the exception of the new stadias being built for conducting badminton, table tennis, wrestling and weightlifting, work on other venues have been completed by over 30 per cent, Mr. Kalmadi said.

The Pune 2008 CYG will serve as the trails for the prestigious 2010 Commonwealth Games and has surpassed the earlier two editions held in Edinbrough in Scotland in 2000 and the scond held at Bendigo in Australia in 2004. It has attracted all the 71 commonwealth countries, featuring about 2000 sportspersons and officials, he said.

Tourism Min mulls mega-shopping events by CWG2010

The Tourism ministry is working closely with the ministries of railways and civil aviation for setting up budget hotels accomodating 1,30,000 rooms and convention centres across the country to improve connectivity and accommodation by 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The ministry also plans to organise four shopping events in three states of the country to attract more tourists and popularise hallmarked jewellery in India, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni told reporters at the 10th edition of the Festival of Gold here today.

''Besides the ministries of railways and civil aviation, we are in talks with the Finance ministry to give tax incentives to the people involved in developing the proposed infrastructure. We plan to hold at least four shopping events before CWG 2010,'' Ms Soni said.

''The purpose behind the endeavour is to co-relate tourism and the jewellery industry and also to promote the gold jewellers in India through such exposure. The ministry has identified Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for the mega-events and is yet to finalise the third state.'' Citing that the tourism sector had the ''maximum potential'' for employment, the Minister said the events will act as an add-on for the tourists visiting India during CWG 2010 and will explore vast job opportunities for everyone involved.

The proposed events are being planned on themes like the 'Surajkund Mela' in Haryana with jewellery being one of the segments besides participation from the artisans, cotton industry and the small and medium enterprises, but on a bigger level, Ms Soni said.

MMMTC Ltd, the biggest bullion trader of gold with 20 per cent of Indian gold imports coming through it, recorded sales of Rs 13 crore from the gold festival last year and expects to earn about Rs 20 crore with over 70,000 pieces kept for display in its 10th year.

''Looking at the behaviour of gold in the international market, the current time is the best time to buy gold. We expect a sale of Rs 2-3 crore everday from the 7-day event,'' MMTC Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Batra said.

MMTC clocked a turnover of Rs 16,300 crore during the last fiscal, out of which 50 per cent was contributed by gold. The company has already posted a turnover of Rs 11,200 crore in the six months ending September 30, 2006 during the current fiscal 2006-07 and aims to post Rs 23,000 crore as turnover by the end of the financial year 2006-07, he said.

Besides, the company also launched a portal www.mmtclimited.com for selling 'Sanchi' silver products and gold coins and medallions to its customers online.

900 Million For Commonwealth Games

The Chronicle Herald is reporting that we may have up to $900 Million to spend on the Commonwealth Games if we get them. The estimated costs are $785 million which means that at the end of it all it will likely go well past $1 billion. While I am a huge supporter of big events and spending lots, this seems like a whole lot of money. The Federal Government’s pledged nearly $400 million and corporate sponsors would likely pitch in another $145 million, but even with all of those contributions, Haligonians and Nova Scotians will be left with a healthy tab.

Montreal just finished paying for their Olympics this year. Through histroy, no matter how much optimism and good budgeting happens, a large event like this breaking even is a rare occurence. The big bonus is that we’d be left with a 25 000 seat stadium. Following that would, in all likelyhood be a CFL team. Again though, although a CFL team could be a booster to the local economy, there’s no guarantee. It hasn’t exactly been panning out that well for Ottawa over the last while…

I think it’s great that we’re considered to be a good place to host an event such as the Commonwealth Games, but the risks in this venture are growing every day. Not to mention that without a proper public transit system, the city will move at a snail’s pace for the duration of the games.

All that being said, I am a pessimist and the bid organisers as well as the selection committee seem very optimistic about what we can acheive. We’ll just have to wait until we find out who wins the bid to host the 2014 games and take it from there. Besides, by then I may have moved on to some other city