India honour first Olympic medalist, name CWG wresting stadium after him

The newly constructed wrestling stadium within Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium complex has been named as K.D. Jadhav Wrestling Stadium in the memory of late Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav. Jadhav was independent India's first individual Olympic medalist, when he won the wrestling bronze medal at the 1952 Olympic Games held at Helsinki. He was awarded Arjuna Award posthumously in 2000.

The new wrestling stadium is one of the venues for 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Ranjeet Khashaba Jadhav son of Late Shri K.D. Jadhav was present on the occasion and was felicitated by Dr. Gill with a shawl, silver plaque in appreciation and recognition of achievements of his illustrious father. He was also given Rs. 3 lakh from National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons.

Since 1900, when Norman Pritchard won two silver medals in athletics, India had won gold medals only in field hockey, a team sport. For nearly half a century, he remained the only individual medal winner for India at the Olympics until Leander Paes won a bronze in 1996.

While speaking on the occasion, Dr. Gill, said that it was his desire to give due recognition to the achievements of Late Shri K.D. Jadhav, and hence, this magnificent wrestling stadium has been christened after his name. He further said that Jadhav has been always remembered as the winner of independent India's first individual Olympic medal , when he won the wrestling bronze medal at the 1952 Olympic Games held at Helsinki. Hailing from a wrestling background, Jadhav was an ardent fan of sports, mainly wrestling, kabaddi, running, swimming and others. His father, a wrestler himself taught Jadhav about the sport and despite being the youngest in the family managed to grasp the game and outclassed everyone. He had started his wrestling competitions from State Championship by winning Gold medal followed by All India Inter-University Gold medal and then gold medal in National Championship in 52 kg weight category.

Pratik Prakashbapu Patil, Minister of State of Youth Affairs & Sports recalled the achievements of late K.D. Jadhav and said that by naming the wrestling stadium, which is the venue for Commonwealth Games, 2010, after K.D. Jadhav is another recognition and tribute to this national hero. He further said that by christening the wrestling stadium after his name, Shri Jadhav will be remembered and young wrestlers will get inspiration from his achievements to bring more laurels for the country.

Chhatrasal stadium ready for Commonwealth Games

The renovated Chhatrasal Stadium, which would be used as a training venue for athletes during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, was on Friday inaugurated by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who declared that with this project her Government has completed the construction of all the three stadia entrusted to it.

Speaking at the function, the Chief Minister also stated that all the other Games-related infrastructure projects which include flyovers, elevated roads and street-scaping works would be completed by June.

The face-lifting work of the Chhatrasal Stadium, she said, has been completed within the stipulated time-frame. It has a 400 metre by eight metre synthetic athletic track with four high-mast lights to give lighting of 500 lux. The stadium now also boasts a double-storey new athletic block and parking facility for 464 vehicles at the ground level and in the basement.

It has also been provided with a cafeteria, physiotherapy centre, medical room, security room, event managers' room and store on the ground floor and two separate athletic lounge for males and females, a VIP lounge, conference room and technical observer room on the first floor.

Renovated at a cost of Rs.70 crore, the stadium would be used as a training venue during the Games. Thereafter it would continue to serve as an important venue for national school games and State-level Republic Day and Independence Day functions.

Public Works Department Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said the Department has strengthened and resurfaced the 450-metre road leading to the stadium and has also taken up street-scaping works to spruce up the roads leading to all the Games venues.

Cost of CWG Delhi stadiums up 250%

The cost of construction and renovation of five stadiums to be used during the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) increased by almost 250 percent of the original, a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application revealed.

The application filed under the RTI Act by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal had sought details of the initial and revised budget for the CWG-related projects taken up by the central government.

According to the reply, the initial planned amount was Rs.1,000 crore but later it was revised to Rs.2,460 crore.

The 2010 Delhi CWG are scheduled to take place Oct 3-14 later this year.

The work of construction and renovation of the stadiums - Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Indira Gandhi Stadium, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex, Major Dhyanchand National Stadium and Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range - is being done by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

"The budget was revised on account of revised cost indices and escalation, change in scope of work as per the requirement of venue, various additions and deletions to make venue suitable for various standards and addition of service tax, quality assurance and contingencies," CPWD said.

The original cost for construction and renovation of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which is to host the opening and closing ceremonies, was Rs.455 crore. It was revised to Rs.961 crore.

Similarly, for the Karni Singh Shooting Range the budget was increased to Rs.149 crore from the original Rs.16 crore.

Delhi Metro making special arrangements for CWG

Delhi Metro Sunday said it was making special arrangements to facilitate passengers’ movement at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium station during the Commonwealth Games beginning Oct 3.

“We are making special arrangements at the Stadium Metro station from opening of the Games Oct 3 to closing ceremony Oct 14. The station will have five entry and exit structures so that public can access the station easily and extra staircases of much wider width are being provided so that more people can be accommodated easily,” Delhi Metro spokesman Anuj Dayal said.

“The staircase width, which is normally 2.4 metres in other stations, will be as much as 4.25 metres at the the Stadium Metro station to accommodate the extra rush. There will also be four escalators connecting the concourse with the platform,” he added.

According to Dayal, the station at the stadium can deal with a crowd of 4,000 passengers per minute in peak time and has been designed to accommodate a total traffic flow of 80,000 persons per hour in the platform area of 1,800 sq. metres.

There will be 20 automatic fare collection (AFC) gates instead of eight AFC gates normally provided at most stations.

“The operations department of the DMRC is preparing a special plan and procedure for clearance of commuters who will be coming for the opening and closing ceremony by Metro trains, with high frequency of Metro trains to ensure very fast clearance at the platform to avoid crowding,” he said.

“Volunteers and Sahayaks (helpers) will be posted to assist passengers at all the important points of the station such as the AFC gates, escalators, platforms and entry and exit points where first-time Metro users may face difficulty,” Dayal added.

A special control room will be established at the Stadium Metro station from where public announcements will be controlled and LED signs will be displayed for guidance of passengers.

Railings will be installed and there will be extra lighting for good visibility.

The Delhi Metro will provide easy Metro connectivity to 10 out of 11 venues of the Commonwealth Games 2010. These are the Games Village, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi University, Thyagaraj Complex, Siri Fort Sports Complex, National Stadium, Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Talkotora Indoor Stadium, Yamuna Sports Complex and R.K. Tennis Complex.