India beat Pakistan 7-4, to meet England in semifinal

India crushed Pakistan 7-4 to storm into the semifinals of the men's hockey competition at the 19th Commonwealth Games here Sunday.

India finished second behind Australia in Pool A with nine points and take on Pool B toppers England in the semifinal here Tuesday. Australia face New Zealand in the other semifinal.

Earlier, Australia romped to their fourth win by soundly thrashing Malaysia 7-0 while England overcame South Africa 2-1 and Canada came within two minutes of making the semi-final grade, but eventually drew 1-1 with New Zealand.

Indeed, India put on a dazzling display befitting royalty and in the presence of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as they ran circles around Pakistan, who were done in by the aggression, slick passing and clinical finish of the home team.

Penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh started the Indian party with two conversions first up (2nd, 11th), followed by Shivendra Singh (19th and 59th), Saravanjit Singh (20th), Dhanish Mujataba (40th) and Dharamvir Singh (46th).

On their part, Pakistan showed only flashes of brilliance and their famed fighting spirit to knock in two goals by Muhammad Imran (27th) and Mumahmmad Rizwan (30th) in a space of three minutes. Irfan Muhammad (57th) and Shakeel Abbasi (67th) were the other scorers.

India could not have hoped for a better start than five penalty corners within 11 minutes and Sandeep converted the first and fifth.

The Pakistan defence was at sixes and sevens in the face of the furious Indian onslaughts as virtually every penetration by the home forwards resulted in a penalty corner.

Past the 19th, Sandeep unleashed a brilliant left-to-right diagonal long shot that Shivendra, positioned behind the Pakistani defenders flicked home to put India 3-0 in the lead.

A minute later, Sarvanjit was lying handy to push home a poor clearance from the sixth penalty corner and the packed stands went into frenzied celebrations.

Thus, a 4-0 lead in just 20 minutes was simply unbelievable, but it accurately reflected India's dominance that left the Pakistanis all but shell-shocked.

But not for long as Pakistan earned their second penalty corner in the 26th minute and Rehan Butt's rebound attempt struck Vikram Pillay on the foot leading to a penalty stroke that Imran converted and Pakistan were in the hunt.

Three minutes later Rizwan got a deflection to Irfan's cross hit from the right as Pakistan reduced the leeway.

In the final minute of the half, India received two back-to-back penalty corners, their seventh and eighth, but could not convert. Pakistan protested both the awards while the Indians claimed a penalty stroke off the second, but their pleas were rejected.

Pakistan began the second-half far more confidently and a couple of chances came their way, but were wasted.

It was not long before India got going and Mujtaba banged home a penalty corner rebound in the 40th and Dharamvir pushed home a Shivendra pass and India were up 6-2.

Pakistan pulled one back when Irfan flicked into net from a penalty corner, but India hit back with a stunning counter-attack that saw captain Rajpal Singh finding Shivendra with a through ball and the striker made no mistake with a powerful drive to goal.

With a four-goal cushion, India relaxed just a bit and it allowed Abbasi to streak in from the right and flick past goalkeeper Bharat Chhetri for the final goal of the night.

Bindra to be 4th shooter to carry Indian flag

India's only individual Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra on Sunday will become the fourth shooter to carry the national flag in a mega event.

Bindra, who won the gold in the 10 metre air rifle event in Beijing, was elated. He said it was a dream come true.

"As a 15-year-old I represented the country in my first Commonwealth Games in 2002 at Manchester. Today I am living a dream. To represent the country in the Commonwealth Games and also to carry the national flag is a great honour," said Bindra, who was the youngest member of the Indian contingent in Manchester.

Since the 1982 Asian Games, Indian shooters have been flag bearers in different multi-event extravaganza.

The late Karni Singh, a silver medallist in skeet in the World Championships, was the flag bearer at the 1982 Asian Games. World champion pistol shooter Jaspal Rana carried the Indian flag at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore carried the Indian flag at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Rugby C'ship: Malaysia emerge winners, India finishes 4th

After a roaring start, India stumbled against Sri Lanka in the semifinals and Malaysia emerged champions on the second and the last day of the Asian Rugby Sevens Championship at the Delhi University here Saturday.

India, who topped Group B by winning all their three matches Friday, were beaten 19-34 by the under-21 Sri Lankan side Saturday. The hosts, lacking the fizz, then lost to Kazakhstan 7-33 in the match for third place.

In the final, Group A toppers and the top-ranked team here, Malaysia, outclassed the Sri Lankans 38-5 to win the trophy.
Earlier, India continued from where they had left on Friday by beating Pakistan 38-5, displaying a near-flawless game in the quarterfinals for their fourth successive win in the tournament. The only low point for the hosts, ranked second in the tournament, was the one try Pakistan managed to eke out.
Against Sri Lanka, India led 12-10 at half time, but an error-strewn second half saw them losing the plot.

A dejected India captain Nasser Hussain said a few 'silly mistakes' cost them the match.

'We made some mistakes. In rugby, every error will cost you seven points. It is demoralising when you lose after putting in so much of hard work. Some silly mistakes spoiled it for us. Sri Lankans never had to work to win the points, they did nothing fanciful, it is we who gave away the match,' Hussain said.

'The strategy against the Sri Lankans was to keep it close and to keep the ball possession as they are faster and like to spin the ball. We stuck to the gameplan in the first half which we dominated. It is unfortunate that we could not execute things in the second session.
'In Sri Lanka, Rugby is quite popular and their infrastructure is also very strong. Even their school games are a sell out. So naturally, they are a formidable unit,' Hussain said. 'But we went with a positive frame of mind, but it is just those couple of mistakes took the game away from us.'
Reflecting on his boys' performance, Hussain said they are a far more confident lot now.
'If one thing, that we would be taking back from this competition is the confidence. Every player now has the confidence that the team can lift their game and do better. This was our most successful tournament as we have never won four matches in a row. Also, this was the closest we have come against the Sri Lankans. We will continue to work hard and improve,' Hussain said.
Sri Lankan team admitted that Indians have shown remarkable progress.

'When we played them last year and we found most of the players lacked in skills. This time they gave us a good fight. They have indeed improved a lot,' said Ishan Noor, the island nation's most promising ruggerite.

Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Malaysia, Brunei, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, besides hosts India, took part in the championship which was essentially to test the facilities for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games rugby competition.
The Indian team will fly back to Auckland April 20 to resume their training which they found highly useful during their three-week stint there before the championship.

Australian domination under threat from India

Australia fears its traditional domination of Commonwealth Games is under threat from India, who would use their wrestling might to surge up the medal tally in New Delhi later this year.

Wrestling Australia president John Saul said India has been a traditional wrestling powerhouse and with 14 gold medals up for grabs in the men and women's freestyle category alone, the hosts might eat into Australia's domination of the event scheduled from October 3-14.

"Wrestling is a key part of India's master plan to shoot up the medal count. There's nothing to stop Australia surging ahead at the start of the Games with a heap of medals in the (swimming) pool.

"But they're going to peg us back through wrestling," Saul was quoted as saying.

Apart from freestyle, India would pose strong challenge in the seven Greco-Roman events as well, fears Saul.

"India have introduced (European) techniques through new coaches and they aim to capitalise on that," Saul said.

With 21 wrestling gold on offer, India stood a great chance of restricting Australia's haul, he said.

6 Indians in finals of Commonwealth Boxing Championships

The final day of the fifth Commonwealth Boxing Championship will see as many as six Indian boxers fighting for gold at the Talkatora stadium on Wednesday.

Click here to read more about India's performance in Commonwealth Boxing Championships.

There is plenty to look forward to as two more boxers from the Indian squad made it to the finals on Tuesday, after four had made the grade on Monday.

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Amandeep Singh defeated MFBM Redzuan of Malaysia 7-1 in the light-fly category (49 kg) before Jai Bhagwan (60 kg) got a bye over England's Daniel Phillips to enter the title round. Amandeep will face Kenya's Peter Mungai while Bhagwan will challenge Valention Knowles of the Bahamas.

Amandeep and Redzuan, both southpaws, started cautiously in the semifinal. After taking a 3-0 lead in the first round, Amandeep played safe in a bid to guard his lead. In the third round, he consolidated to 5-1 before the referee penalised Redzuan for excessive bending, making it 7-1 in the Indians' favour, the final score. Amandeep's opponent in the title clash is also a southpaw.

"My opponent was slightly slow and that helped. After taking the lead in the first round, we decided to play safe. He used a lot of wild swings but my strategy was to avoid them," said Amandeep, who played hockey for three years before deciding to don the gloves.

"This is going against my expectations. Two of our better boxers lost, which I never expected. On Monday, four of our boxers made it to the finals and now the count stands at six. I never expected this either. But the finals are not going to be a cakewalk," said a happy Indian coach, Gurbax Singh Sandhu. After India's six, England have the most fighters in the finals - four.

Meanwhile, Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Bruno Sulie of Mauritius lost to England's Ian Weaver 12-3 in 56kg semifinals. Weaver had defeated Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar in the quarterfinals.

Order of the finals (starts at 2:30pm IST):

Bantamweight (56 kg): Ian Weaver (England) vs MDK Wanniarachchi (Sri Lanka)

Light welterweight (64 kg): Chris Jenkins (Wales) vs Scott Cardle (England)

Welterweight (69 kg): Fred Evans (Wales) vs Moabi Mothiba (Botswana)

Heavyweight (91 kg): Simon Vallily (England) vs Elly Ajowi (Kenya)
Super heavyweight (91+ kg): Paramjeet Samota (India) vs Joseph Parker (New Zealand)
Light flyweight (49 kg): Amandeep Singh (India) vs Peter Mungai (Kenya)
Flyweight (52 kg): Suranjoy Singh (India) vs Oliver Lavigi (Mauritius)
Lightweight (60 kg): Jai Bhagwan (India) vs Valention Knowles (Bahamas)
Middleweight (75 kg): Vijender Singh (India) vs Frank Buglioni (England)
Light heavyweight (81 kg): Dinesh Kumar (India) vs Callum Johnson (Scotland).

India finishes 8th in Hockey World Cup

India completed their Hockey World Cup campaign in disappointing manner, when they lost to Argentina for 7-8th place play-off.

India was down 1:0 at half time but bounced back with a goal through penalty stroke. However, Argentina scored 3 goals in next 3 minutes finishing any chances of a bounce back from India.

India has dominated the mid-field through all the matches in Hockey World Cup but looked out of sorts after crossing 25-yards line. This game was no different and Indians lacked co-ordination and finishing touch.

India's only win in the tournament came against Pakistan in their World cup opener but failed to make a mark since then. 8th place is still an improvement from 11th in last world cup. However, this is not a consolation enough for the home crown who would have expected a better show from the Indian team.

Live India vs Argentina: Hockey World Cup

India plays Argentina to decide 7th and 8th place positions of World Cup

Final Score: India 2:4 Argentina

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Hockey World cup: Pool B: 6-Mar-2010

England have emerged stars amongst 6 team in Pool B of 2010 Hockey World Cup, while India was third team to be eliminated of the group after South Africa and Pakistan.

England scored their fourth straight win. The team has secured all 12 points from four matches.

The second semi final spot is all but decided with Aussies booking the berth.

The standings after third leg of league matches is as follows:

Live India vs Spain: FIH World Cup match

Today it is a must win situation for both India and Spain to be in hockey world cup starting with Spain-India match. Both countries will look to win all the remaining three matches in order to keep itself safe in world cup.

5-Mar-2010: Watch Germany vs Argentina LIVE

It will take a lot of strategies and planning for India’s coach Jose Manuel Brasa to make the Beijing Olympics silver medalists lose. He also has to motivate his boys to deliver their best to continue the next lap at the Hero Honda FIH Hockey World Cup 2010.

From Pool B Australia and England are the front liners, therefore India need to improve its performance in the upcoming matches to make it to semi-final. We will bring live telecast of the match here on 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Final score: India 2:5 Spain

Watch live Hockey World Cup coverage on Commonwealth Games 2010

Live Hockey World Cup: India vs Aus

Watch India vs Australia Hockey World Cup Group-B match. India is on a high after beating Pakistan on 28-Feb. On the other hand, Australia would come into the game smarting from defeat against England in their tournament opener.

WATCH India vs England Hockey World Cup.

Half time report:
At half time, Australia took 3:1 lead over India. This one is going to be crucial for both to stay in the Hockey world cup.

10 minutes into the second half:
India is looking out of sorts as Australia pumped 2 more goals after second half.
Watch live video on Commonwealth Games 2010

Australia satisfied with security arrangements

Australia has expressed satisfaction with the security arrangements made for the Commonwealth Games 2010 and for the third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.

Briefing reporters on the Indian visit of Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said: "As far as the security of the games is concerned Australia and India have been in close touch. Australian Hockey team is here. Australian players will be participating in the IPL matches and Australia has expressed satisfaction at the security arrangements."

Earlier in the day, Australian Foreign Minister Smith informed reporters about Australia being very pleased with the cooperation and coordination about security in run up to Commonwealth Games. "We are pleased to see the security arrangements of the hockey world cup and also Commonwealth federation shooting competition."

Smith was speaking to reporters after being shown around and briefed about the progress of work at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the capital.Having arrived earlier on Tuesday morning, Smith is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Wednesday and would hold conversation with officials to get up to date information and advice on the security coordination and cooperation as far as the games are concerned.

Delhi hotels settle for lesser rates

Hotel bookings for the Commonwealth Games (here, in October) will open for tourists in the next few days, as the face-off between hotels and the tourism ministry on room rates has been largely resolved.

Hotels in the National Capital Region were seeking much higher rates than what the tourism ministry thought were appropriate to attract tourists.

According to a report, hotels were planning to price 5 star rooms at Rs 14,000 - 23,000 ($300 - $500), and 4 star rooms at Rs 10,000 - 14,000 ($215-$300) per night. The rates expected for 3 star rooms were around Rs 5,000 - 7,000 per night. After negotiations, hotels have scaled back room rates by about 30%.

Bookings will be overseen by the Games Travel Office (GTO). The GTO would be listing about 125 hotels across various price categories for tourists.

The government has reached an agreement with the hotels that 90 per cent of the rooms available with them will be with the OC for the purpose of the Games.

While many hotels had agreed to lower rates, some are not willing to budge.The hotels which do not comply with the rates would not be part of the list offered by the GTO. Though tourists are free to make independent bookings with hotels, they will get a lower rate if they book through the GTO. Hotels are also keen to be part of the GTO, as they expect to then get a better response from travelers.

The Games are scheduled from October 3 to 14. Presently, hotel reservation on the Commonwealth website is open for athletes and officials.

CW Shooting: India bags 3 more Golds

Manavjit Singh Sandhu bettered the Commonwealth Games record in the individual trap event as Indian shooters won all the three gold medals on offer on the seventh day of the Commonwealth Championships here today.

India's overall tally stood at 17 gold, 12 silver and six bronze medals. By adding the consolation badges given to shooters in a team event, India's tally swells to 26 gold, 17 silver and 10 bronze.

Manavjit set a new Commonwealth Games record in the men's trap individual event scoring 146 points, which is also his personal best, to pocket the gold.

England's Aaron Heading (143) took the silver, while Australia's Adam Villa (142) bagged the bronze.

The other two golds for India came in the 10m air rifle women's event and 25m centre fire pistol competition for men.

Neha Sapte, 17, who incidentally has to appear for her Class XII board exam tomorrow in Mumbai, won the gold in the women's 10m Air Rifle event scoring 496.1 points.

In a nail-biting finish for the next two spots, Sharmin Akhter Ratna of Bangladesh barely managed to avoid a tie with Australia's Robyn Nus Van. Ratna's total score of 494.5 points earned her the silver while Robyn's 494.2 got her the bronze.

Indians swept all three medals in the men's 25m Center Fire Pistol individual event.

Gold grabber Vijay Kumar again took the top spot on the podium for his 580 points. Mahender Singh took the silver for his 568 points while Viraj Singh took the bronze for his 567 points.

CW Shooting C'ship: India wins two Gold

It has been a good start for India on the first day of the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in New Delhi with two gold medals.

India's Gagan Narang and PT Raghunath shot Gold with their respective scores of 599 and 594 in the 10m air rifle pair event.

Tournament favourite Gagan Narang lived up to the expectation as he not only clinched gold but his score of 599 is also a Commonwealth Shooting Championships record.

Meanwhile, in the 25m sports pistol women's pair event, the pair of Aneesa Sayyed and Annuraj Singh picked up India's 2nd Gold of the day.

The Shooting Championships is the first test event ahead of October's Commonwealth Games. It's also the first event at the refurbished Karni Singh shooting range.

All eyes are on the Indian shooters. But it is still not clear how many will actually get to see it. The fairly festive air at the inauguration ceremony was in stark contrast to the tight security ring that had been thrown around the Karni Singh range.

More than 200 CCTV cameras and 1000 security personnel are guarding the shooting range.

For the moment, all the stakeholders for this venue are speaking in one voice, praising the facilities and expressing their confidence in the security provided. And that led to perhaps the most memorable sight of the day.

With 186 (146 from overseas) shooters taking part in this competition from different Commonwealth countries, the government has provided top security cover for the event to prevent any untoward incident, after Saturday's Pune bomb blast.

163 shooters from 12 countries (including 43 from India) are competing in the championship.

Queen's baton to arrive in India on 25-June

The 2010 Commonwealth Organising Committee and Thursday announced the India schedule of Queen's Baton Relay. The Commonwealth Games baton will pass through the various states and Union territories in the run-up to the quadrennial event starting from October 3.

The baton will arrive in India on June 25 at 1300 hrs through Wagah Border after finishing its Pakistan tour. The Common Wealth Games (CWG) and proceed to Amritsar via road on the same day in the evening.

CGF offers apology for incorrect map of India

The Commonwealth Games Federation has apologized for showing some of Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir as parts of Pakistan.

The CGF was embroiled in a controversy because of a distorted India map put on its website earlier on Tuesday.

The map of India on http://www.thecgf.com/ showed some areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat as parts of Pakistan as organisers of the 2010 Commonwealth Games said they raised the issue with CGF officials.


"It was a mistake and we apologise for it," CGF CEO Mike Hooper said. Hooper said the goof-up (blunder) was entirely unintentional. "It was not intentional but we have rectified the matter immediately. And we certainly apologise to all concerned," Hooper said.

Currently, CGF website shows map of the countries from http://maps.google.com/. Here is the latest snapshot of map of India which shows international borders between India and Pakistan. Also, the area of J&K that is disputed is shown with dotted lines.

"We generally use reliable sources for the territory of the Commonwealth countries but we are going to double check all of those again," said the CGF official.

The earlier link, where the incorrect map was shown (http://www.thecgf.com/countries/) has been redirected to show the list of all Commonwealth countries.

UN concerned about Delhi's homeless

A United Nations independent human rights expert Wednesday voiced concern over the deaths of homeless people in India's capital from a cold wave, underscoring the need for adequate shelter to protect them from harsh weather.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court of India has ordered Delhi government to arrange for shelters or tent arrangements for homeless people. Delhi police has been told to direct homeless people to nearest such shelters.

"The lives of hundreds of homeless people in India are at risk as temperatures near zero degrees," said Raquel Rolnik, the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing.

Ten homeless people have lost their lives in the past month in New Delhi, while more than 100 people have reportedly died in northern India due to the freezing cold over the last few weeks.

The number of homeless people in India has grown since 2007, but the number of shelters for them has plummeted from 46 to 24 in New Delhi, Rolnik pointed out.

This year's Commonwealth Games appears to be driving the closing down of shelters in New Delhi, with public authorities evicting homeless people and tearing down their places of residence in spite of the frigid temperatures.

Late last month, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi demolished a temporary night shelter on Pusa Road, leaving 250 people without shelter and allegedly resulting in the deaths of two people. In spite of an order by the Delhi High Court on 7 January requesting the immediate restoration of the shelter and the protection of the uprooted families, authorities have yet to help them.

A further 400 people were evicted from an area they were using as shelter at Pul Mitahi, where many construction workers for the Commonwealth Games and Dalit families were living.

Rolnik, who reports to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, welcomed the Delhi High Court's ruling and urged authorities to "halt the demolition of homeless shelters, to provide immediate assistance and adequate shelter to the affected persons, and not to evict homeless persons in the winter, on humanitarian grounds."

CGF not happy with preparations

A Commonwealth Games Federation official has warned that progress in infrastructure for the 2010 Commonwealth Games should not disguise ongoing concerns about slow preparations and lapsed deadlines.

The CGG co-ordination commission, chaired by Austin Sealy, is currently visiting New Delhi and received presentations from Indian officials on building progress and implementing Games operations. Sealy also visited all competition venues before issuing a statement Wednesday.

"There has been noticeable progress over the last two months, however, with effectively only nine months remaining, the intensity must continue, and in fact, works must be further accelerated," Sealy said.

"We urge the construction agencies to ensure that no further delays are encountered as this will place the Commonwealth Games OC (Organizing Committee) in a difficult position and compromise final preparations and games readiness."

India will host the event Oct. 3-14 next year, featuring 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth. It hoped that the Games would enhance its credentials to host even bigger events, maybe even the Olympics.

"There was a sense of energy and urgency from Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the OC, and the entire New Delhi team about getting on with the job, which is a positive, and it is clear that everyone is committed to making these Games a success," Sealy said.

He said the commission was concerned that the timetable for venue completion had, in most cases, been extended by at least three months since the September deadline, and, in some cases, it seemed venues would not be handed over to the OC until June.

He urged the construction agencies to ensure that there were no further delays.

The four-member commission was expanded by three members for the visit, adding representatives from Australia, Wales and South Africa. It will now report to the CGF and the Organizing Committee.

The CGF president Michael Fennell will visit New Delhi on Friday for meetings with Organizing Committee members to discuss concerns raised by the commission.

New Delhi won the Games over a bid from Hamilton.

Britain downgrades Commonwealth Games priority

Britain has effectively downgraded next year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi to a development event after UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee explained that his main focus in 2010 will be on the European Championships in Barcelona, while Britain continues to prepare for 2012 London Olympics.

This may lead to other countries giving option to their atheletes to opt out of the Commonwealth Games.

The qualifying standards for European Championships, due to take place in the Montjuic Stadium, which hosted the 1992 Olympics, will be the same as those used for this year's World Championships in Berlin. British team won two gold medals, two silver and two bronze.

"We are looking for contenders, not pretenders."

The Dutchman claimed the Commonwealth Games, which takes take in New Delhi in October, would provide up-and-coming athletes with the chance to impress. He said: "This year's Commonwealth Games presents an opportunity to athletes just outside UKA's European Championships criteria which will ensure developing athletes are given high quality competition at an international level."

A number of Britain's top athletes, including world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, have already announced that they will not compete at the Commonwealth Games.

Like many other top competitors, she fears picking up a stomach bug and also believes that the scheduling of the event, which is not due to start until October 3 2010, will cost them valuable time in beginning preparations for the 2011 World Championships, which will be held in Daegu, South Korea, the following August.

Ennis was joined yesterday by Kelly Sotherton, who announced that she would not be defending the heptathlon title she won in Melbourne in 2006 and that she expected to be joined by Phillips Idowu, the world triple jump champion.

But Ennis, Idowu and Sotherton have all already said that the European Championships will be their main priorities in 2010 as they seek their first gold medals in the event.

Trinidad and Tobago to bid for 2018 CWG

Trinidad and Tobago has expressed interest in bidding for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Trinidad and Tobago joins Gold Coast city, Australia as potential bidder for the games. The announcement was made by chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth 2010 in Delhi, India’s Suresh Kalmadi, at closed door Sports Breakfast meeting during the recently held Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad in November.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning in his speech said he would like to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018. When asked what were the main criteria for hosting the games, Kalmadi said a country needs a strong financial backing. “Finance for one. That’s the main thing, and then your determination and will to create international class to the world,” he said.

Asked if T&T would be able to prepare for an event of this magnitude, he said, “It depends on your government. If they are ready to come forward or not.”

The 2010 games, to be held in Delhi, India next October, have already cost India’s government US $2 billion. The event is expected to create 2.5 million jobs and will see more than 100,000 tourists gracing India’s shores.

The host of the 2018 Games will be announced at the General Assembly in Basseterre, St. Kitts in November 2011.