Fiji to appeal Commonwealth Games ban

Fiji officials on Tuesday said that they would appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sports for their exclusion from 2010 Common wealth Games in India. Fiji was barred from the games in September after the country’s military regime ignored international demands to restore democracy following the 2006 coup.

The Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) expressed its disappointment on decision taken at Commonwealth Heads of Government summit to uphold Fiji's suspension from the games.

FASANOC president Vidhya Lakhan said,"We totally disagree with this decision. In our view it is tantamount to political interference in sports. As such we will now be taking the matter up to the Court of Arbitration for Sports for a resolution."

Fiji‘s exclusion from games was confirmed in October by the Commonwealth Games Federation following its suspension from the Commonwealth.

The heads of government meeting in Trinidad confirmed Fiji’s expulsion from the games in Delhi, with only Malaysia offering support. Fiji will appeal against the ban in Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, an independent body which settles sports-related disputes.

2010 Sports mega event and Tourism conference in SA

Travel and Tourism sector has emerged as one of the 21st century's critical drivers of economic growth, job creation, and development of communities, regions, and nations. The "Tourism Economy," a vital source of employment, revenue, investment, trade, and unity, has recently been recognized as a powerful stimulus for recovery from the global economic crisis.

As a reflection of the importance of the travel and tourism sector to unlock the growth potential of nations and the role of major sporting, business, and cultural events to re-inspire tourists to travel to global destinations, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN WTO) and the South African Government announced on October 30, 2009 that the T&T world's first international Tourism, Sport, and Mega-events Summit will be held in Sandton, South Africa from February 24-26, 2010.

The summit will provide a forum for active discussion, debate, and direction around the leverage of mega-events as a vital force for sector growth and advancement in national development strategies.

A number of major global events will be held in 2010, including the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the Commonwealth Games in India, the World Exhibition in Shanghai, and the Winter Games in Canada.

With this taken into consideration, the UNWTO seeks to align the global Travel and tourism sector's leadership to create a framework for leveraging sport and other mega-events (including cultural and entertainment events, exhibitions, and business conventions) for economic growth. This process must take into account the economic, social, and environmental consequences for host nations and the massive multimedia opportunities for nation branding and export promotion.

South Africa's Department of Tourism and Department of Sport, as well as CNN International as a global media partner, will be working in partnership with the UN WTO.

As stated by Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the UN WTO: "This important meeting reflects the increasing economic and social impacts of sport, mega-events, and tourism. It will establish new lines of thinking on operations, economics, and sustainability. We are delighted to be working with South Africa - particularly in 2010 which will see a great sporting mega-event in the FIFA World Cup, which promises so much for Africa."

The summit will be held parallel to the annual Meetings Africa, Africa's top business tourism exhibition hosted annually by South African Tourism.

Scots testing waters in India

With the 2010 Commonwealth Games less than a year away, the Scottish rugby team arrived in India for a week-long training camp. The 12-member squad is currently training at the Hindu College grounds until Friday, before it plays three matches against the Indian team on Saturday.

Karen Burnett, team manager, said the pitch had been "quite a pleasant surprise."

"I haven't taken a look at the main tournament venues yet, the dressing rooms are still under construction. But the pitch has been laid out well," she added.

It is evident that Scottish team is taking the games seriously as its the first team to visit India to check the conditions. 71 countries are scheduled to take part in the games next year in October 2010.

Burnett said that the players were coping reasonably well with the heat and the humidity, weather factors in direct contrast to Scotland's cooler conditions. "The boys quite enjoy being away from the cold actually," Burnett said, as the players sweated it out on a sunny morning.

Greg Davey, development manager of the Indian Rugby-Football Union, said, "A lot of work needs to be done at the site to make this top class. There have been some issues with the water sprinklers at the ground," he explained.

Scott Forest, team captain, said, "Good work has been done on the pitch here. But the heat gets to you a bit," he grinned.

Fullback Colin Shaw admitted that India had come as a culture shock. “The food, the people, everything is different from what we are used to,” he said.

Rugby will be played across eight venues during the 2010 Games. The sport is played in three formats - 15-a-side, ten-a-side, and Rugby Sevens, and Davey compared them to the Test, ODIs and Twenty20 formats of cricket.

An official confirmation for rugby as an Olympics sport, which is being awaited by rugby organisations, would provide a benefit for its development. "Maybe that will act as a wake-up call for the authorities," Davey said, trying to sound confident. But his skeptical look said it all.

Commonwealth Games delegates impressed with Games village

The visiting Commonwealth Games delegation has given a thumbs-up to the under-construction Games Village, the organisers claimed here today.

According to an Organising Committee statement, the CGF Secretary General Louise Martin and her colleagues in the delegation were highly impressed with the Games Village and hoped the athletes would enjoy the facility spread over 27 acres to house 8000 sportspersons in its 4,000 bedrooms.

"Absolutely fantastic. The athletes will enjoy," Martin wrote in the Guest Book at the Games Village.

Craig Hunter, a delegate from England, was also impressed with the Village, where the delegates were taken to Tower 9 and shown a set of furnished apartments.

"This is a wonderful Games Village and we look forward to stay (here) in 2010," he wrote.

The delegates also visited the Thyagraj Sports Complex and appeared to be satisfied with the progress.

Stars galore to promote Commonwealth Games

With the countdown for the Commonwealth Games 2010 having begun, the organisers are roping in celebrities from different walks of life to promote the mega event.

The star cast has been drawn by the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games. Bollywood will be represented by Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif.  This provides lot of glamour quotient to the international event to be held in the Capital in October next year.

Others on the list include Oscar winning musician A R Rahman, actors Rahul Bose, Nana Patekar and John Abraham, lyricist Javed Akhtar, classical instrumental musician Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.

Sports personalities - Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Saina Nehwal, Vijender Kumar, Abhinav Bindra, Raghvendra Rathore, Dhanraj Pillai, Jeev Milkha Singh and Baichung Bhutia have also been shortlisted as the likely brand ambassadors for the sporting event.

Sources said that the OC has already sent letters to some of the prominent sportspersons, actors, musicians and media personalities requesting them to promote the event.

Celebrities like Nafisa Ali and Shobha De, designers Ritu Beri and Rohit Bal, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, businessman Anil Ambani, Neeta Ambani and environmentalist Dr R K Pachauri are likely to be roped in for promoting the event.

In the media category, the organizers have shortlisted Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd managing director Vineet Jain, chairperson and editorial director of HT Media Shobhana Bhartia, president and chairman of NDTV group Prannoy Roy, admen Prasoon Joshi and Piyush Pandey and wildlife filmmaker Mike Pandey.

OC sources said the brand ambassadors will promote the event. They will also participate in the opening and closing ceremonies of the games.

India's Vijender ranked# 1 in the world

Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist Vijender Singh has achieved yet another first for Indian boxing by becoming the world's top-ranked pugilist in the middle weight (75kg) category.

The 23-year-old boxer, who won India's maiden World Championships medal in Milan earlier this month, has 2200 points and is ranked higher than the reigning champion Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan. Atoev, to whom Vijender lost in the World Championship semi-finals, is third in the list with 2100 points and Olympic silver medallist Emilio Correa Bayeux of Cuba occupies the second spot in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) list updated after the Milan event.

IOC has expressed happiness at the latest development and has said that this is a great news right before 2010 Commonwealth Games. IOC spokesperson mentioned that Indian sports need more and more ambassadors, and Vijender's achievement speaks highly of India's long term sports development plan. IOC also highlighted that apart from Boxing other sports such as Badminton, Wrestling, Tennis and even F1 have seen consistent performance from India.

Among the other Indians, former world youth champion Thokchom Nanao Singh has slipped three places to eighth with 1400 points in the light fly weight (48kg) category.

Nanao, a silver medallist in this year's Asian Championships in China, lost in the second round of the World Championships.

Olympian Akhil Kumar, whose World Championships campaign was cut short in the first round itself due to a wrist injury, has gone down a rung to 10th in feather weight (57kg) category with 1050 points.

Fellow Olympian Jitender Kumar (54kg) also lost some ground because of his first-round exit in Milan as he dropped a place to 14th with 838 points.

Suranjoy Singh was 17th in the fly weight (51kg) category rankings. World Championship quarter-finalist Dinesh Kumar held on to his sixth spot with 1550 points in the light weight (81kg) category.

Nehru Cup: India's biggest football event

India beat Syria 5-4 in a penalty shootout to retain the Nehru Cup on Monday. Nehru Cup is India's only bi-annual international football event.

The game was scoreless after 90 minutes, but India and Syria both scored in extra-time to send the contest to penalties. India won the last Nehru Cup in 2007, also defeating Syria in the final.

The two teams failed to score in regulation time and scored once each in the dying minutes of extra time.

India were first to score when Renedy Singh scored through a free-kick in the 24th minute of extra time, but Ali Dyab came up with a stupendous header in the last minute to sink Indian hopes of a clear-cut victory.

Both teams converted three of their first five penalties before the deadlock was broken when the shootout went to sudden death. Indian players scored on their first two shots and goalkeeper Subrata Paul clinched the issue by saving the second Syrian attempt. Paul in an amazing display of reflexes and anticipation saved three spot kicks in the tie-breaker after.

Click here to read featured article on health of Indian sports.

Coming up: Hot air ballooning in NCR

In a bid to cash-in on upcoming Commonwealth Games and promote adventure tourism, Haryana government is working to introduce facilities for hot air ballooning at Suraj Kund, Damdama and Badkhal lakes. State tourism ministry has already floated tenders in this regard.

Currently, there is no permanent venue for hot air ballooning in the NCR and this move will boost tourism in the region. Also, the operators will be able to break even quickly because of huge rush of tourists expected next year. The spots shortlisted are favorite picnic spots and have excellent connectivity with Delhi. Government has zeroed on two licensed players who have experience in commercial hot ballooning. The arrangements will be on on public-private partnership (PPP) basis. Meanwhile, State tourism department has also prepared a plan to set up temporary tents for tourists at the three sites in Faridabad during Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, established on 11 December 1931 is an organisation of 53 independent member states. 

Most of the states were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values and goals, as outlined in the Singapore Declaration.These include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace.

The Commonwealth is an inter-governmental organisation through which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status. Its activities are carried out through the permanent Commonwealth Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General; biennial Meetings between Commonwealth Heads of Government; and the Commonwealth Foundation, which facilitates activities of non-governmental organisations in the so-called 'Commonwealth Family'.

32 members of the Commonwealth Nations are Republics, 16 members are Commonwealth Realms and 5 members have distinct Monarchs.
The Head of the Commonwealth is a ceremonial position currently held by Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth II is also the monarch of sixteen members of the Commonwealth, also called the Commonwealth realms. As each realm is an independent kingdom, the Queen, as monarch, holds a distinct title for each of the realms.


Read more about history and traditions of Commonwealth Games.