Equipment testing at venues to begin on 1-Sep

All agencies involved in the preparation of the Commonwealth Games were on Friday directed by a Group of Ministers to hand over the venues to the Organising Committee by August 31.

The testing of various equipment and networks to be installed will commence from September 1, the GoM decided.

The GoM on Commonwealth Games which met also considered the status of the venues and took note of the problems being faced.

"This will all fall into place by August 31. The venues are already handed over. The network and technology that are to be installed will be installed by August 31. The testing will commence on September 1," Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Sindhu Shree Khullar said after the meeting.

Swimming, atheletics venue may skip trial runs

New Zealand's Commonwealth Games boss Mike Stanley believes Delhi will provide a "useable" venue as fears mount over construction delays for October's games.

New Zealand Olympic Committee officials and representatives from competing sports are in Delhi this week for further inspections of venues and arrangements in the Indian capital.

Their visit comes as Mike Hooper, chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Games Federation, told Reuters there was the potential for embarrassment.

The main stadium remains months overdue while the swimming pool and other venues have also had delays.

The October 3 start is approaching rapidly and it appears some of the venues could host the games without trial runs to iron out potential problems.

"I am not wanting to sound alarmist, but the reality is there is a lot more to be done, a lot of finishing work to be done," Hooper said.

"The Games will happen, swimming will happen, athletics will happen. But it comes down to the level and standards of completion, I suppose."

Stanley, the NZOC president, was waiting for first hand accounts from his staff on the ground in Delhi but didn't dispute Hooper's views.

"I imagine the report is accurate and is consistent with what we are being told and have been told since March," Stanley said.

"We have come to expect that there will be delays on the facilities.

"We remain confident that they will be in a useable state although some of the completion details may be not quite there. But they will be available for the games programme and we have to plan that way.

"So yes, it's going to be a race against time but we should remember Athens (the 2000 Olympics venue) was looking like that and they got there."

Stanley said there was considerable pressure from within India and by the Commonwealth Games Federation to step up the construction pace.

India is hoping the Commonwealth Games can showcase its growing economic power. But new infrastructure like roading and power are also facing delays. They believe as many as two million tourists could be in New Delhi during the games that will feature around 10,000 athletes and officials.

Full bore shooting range inaugurated

Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports M S Gill today inaugurated the newly-constructed Full Bore Shooting Range at the CRPF Campus at Kadarpur in Gurgaon, Haryana.

The range, built at a cost of Rs 28 crore, will be the venue for holding the prestigious Queen Matches during the Commonwealth Games that Delhi will host in October this year.

The range is located at the foothills of the Aravali Hills range, within the campus of the Central Reserve Police Force at Gurgaon near here.

The venue has the natural barrier of the Aravali hills on the one side and at suitable orientation. It has been designed as a "No Danger Area" range with well-designed side baffle walls and end butt wall in RCC.

An official pres release movable electronic targets would be used for the first time for Full Bore shooting competition for 300 yards, 300 meters, 500 yards, 600 yards, 900 yards and 1000 yards during Commonwealth Games.

Dr Gill suggested the starting of an annual big bore shooting competition among the Central Para Military Forces, State Police Forces and the Army for proper utilisation of the range.

The release said the range would also be the venue for national and international shooting competition evnts.

The stadium is supported with a facility block with covered area of 2280 sq m with a seating capacity of 324.

The project was funded by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and constructed by the Central Public Works Department.

Delhi Police to secure CWG venues one month in advance.!!

The Delhi Police wants control of all Commonwealth Games venues one month before the event starts on October 3 to conduct security drills, checks and rehearsals for thousands of police personnel to be deployed.

Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said, “We have made all arrangements and are ready. In fact, we recently provided security successfully for the trial games, Hockey World Cup and the IPL matches in Delhi. The process of recruiting 12,000 police officials for the Games is almost over and they will be deployed in June or July.”

Giving details of security arrangements for the Games, a senior officer told Newsline that besides the 12,000 new recruits, the police would deploy its whole force of 74,000 personnel during the Games. Besides, about 170 companies of central paramilitary forces and reserve forces would also be deployed.

An officer said the police gave details and demonstration of security arrangements to the Games Federation in four meetings held in the past, as also to representatives of various Commonwealth countries who came here recently to inspect the arrangements.

“The plan was appreciated by all representatives,” the officer said.

According to the officer, there would be a four-layered protection — outer, middle, inner, and exclusive security zones — at the stadiums, practice venues, parking lots and hotels of athletes, as also the airport.

Based on security inputs, the police have identified 500 vital installations and sites in Delhi as ‘sensitive’ to terror attacks.

Chef de Missions satisfied with CWG venues

Chef de Missions from the participating countries today inspected the venues for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and were impressed with facilities, according to the organizers.

The delegates, including Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell, have gathered here for the three-day Chef de Mission seminar, which commenced yesterday.

They visited Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, the Games Village, Indira Gandhi Sports Complex and the Rugby 7 venue at Delhi University.

At the Games Village, the delegates were shown a set of furnished apartments, where they got to see the facilities that would be provided to the visiting athletes and officials during the Games, a CWG Organising Committee release said.

"I am confident that Delhi will organise excellent Commonwealth Games. At the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, work is going on, but I am sure that everything will be ready in time.

CWG'10 Chef de Missions seminar begins

Chef de Missions from all the 71 participating nations will visit the Commonwealth Games venues in the next two days to take stock of capital's preparedness for the October 3-14 mega-event

The Chef de Missions are here to participate in a three-day seminar, where different aspects of the event's organisation will be discussed.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell while delivering the opening address at the seminar today assured the delegates that India would host the Games successfully.

"Over the next couple of days, you will visit all the Games venues and find them in various stages of completion. I am sure that the venues will be ready and the overlays will be installed in time for the Games. Some of the venues are completed and test events have either been held or will be held soon.

Commonwealth Games Wrestling arena inaugurated

Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and IOA president Suresh Kalmadi today unveiled the first wrestling venue for this year's Commonwealth Games at the Ludlow Castle school here, and assured that the other work for the October 3-14 mega event would come up well before the time.

"We have completed the work for this stadium before time, the last venue decided for the games became the one to be fully prepared," Ms Dikshit said at the inauguration of the Ludlow Castle wrestling training venue.

"I congratulate Arora constructions for their superb work and made it possible on a short span. I am sure everything will be in place in time and I can ensure that the other venues will come up well before the games start." she told mediapersons.

India came under severe criticism after construction of several venues, including the athletes' village, fell behind schedule, forcing the postponement or shifting of many international meets planned as test events.

The Chief Minister admitted that completing the rest of the work in such a short period of time would be a tough job. "Now only eight months are left and we need to complete so much work, it would be tough."

The CWG Organising Committee chief further claimed that Delhi will host the Games more successfully than Manchester and Melbourne. "The Delhi Games would be better than Melbourne (2006) and Manchester (2002)."

The under-fire Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President, who has faced all-round criticism for delays in construction work at the Games' venues, said the success of the event would also reflect in India's performance. ''The success will help Delhi become a tourist attraction.'' He futher urged Delhiites to follow traffic rules so that the participants coming from abroad should not have bad impression about the capital city.

There is an athlete lounge, change rooms, sports equipments room, medical and physiotherapy, fitness and gym, cafeteria, conference room at ground floor of the Ludlow Castle wrestling venue.

In the first floor, there is a maple wood sports flooring to accomodate six wrestling mats (12X12m each). The building is centrally air conditioned. Elevated at a cost of Rs 13 crore is an amalgamation of granite and fabricated steel, the venue conforms to international standard.

PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, Education and Transport Minister Arvinder Singh and MLA Prahlad Singh Sahni were among others present in the occasion.