Delhi Metro airport link may get delayed

The Airport Express project being jointly developed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Reliance Infra, it seems, is running behind schedule and may not finish in time for Commonwealth Games 2010

The special metro train that promises to zip you from the heart of Delhi to the airport in just 22 minutes, a journey that normally takes more than an hour is expected to miss the Commonwealth Games 2010 deadlines.

Players and visitors coming for this year's Commonwealth Games in October may miss the ride on this metro as DMRC may miss its completion deadline of September 2010. The Metro is being constructed under a unique model

The DMRC will first complete all the civil works including stations, tunnel and viaduct and then hand it over to Reliance Infra, who will run it for a period of 30 years.

Reliance Infra is also responsible for laying tracks and operational equipment and completing the station, which will be modeled on airport terminals

But the big worry for the government is that DMRC has not handed over the civil structure to Reliance Infra yet for fitting out. Even stations haven’t been given out yet for fitment and it’s this 3 to 4 month delay, which can cost the project dearly.

There has been a flurry of communication between Reliance Infra and DMRC, where the company has raised apprehension that at the current pace of work it may not be able to make the system operational before the Commonwealth Games.

Delhi Commonwealth Basketball championship cancelled

This year's Commonwealth Basketball Championships, due to be staged in New Delhi in August, have been cancelled by the world governing body, FIBA.

The decision comes just two weeks after FIBA had written to Keith Mair, chief executive of England Basketball, to confirm that a men's tournament would be staged in the Indian capital.

The tournament was not directly connected with the Commonwealth Games, which are being held in India for the first time in October.

Although the scrapping of the tournament represents a set-back to the Indian organisers and those players hoping to compete, FIBA stressed that the cancellation had nothing to do with concerns about facilities, organisation or security - three issues which have blighted the build-up to the Delhi Games.

Basketball has only been included in the Commonwealth Games once, in Melbourne four years ago where teams from eight countries, including England and Scotland, competed in men's and women's tournaments.

Both Gold medals were won by Australia, with England's men and women taking the bronze medals.

Although Australia are understood to have requested delaying the Commonwealth tournament until 2011, FIBA blamed a crowded international programme for its decision.

"The major national federations of the Commonwealth have experienced difficulty with the scheduling of the national team programmes as Australia, Canada and New Zealand have all qualified for the FIBA world championship in Turkey while England - as part of Great Britain - will compete in the European championships qualification series," said a spokesman.

But Mair expressed his disappointment at the scrapping of the tournament, which England Basketball had wanted to use for players not included in the Great Britain squad.

There are no plans for the sport to be contested at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Pla(n)y 'virtual' Commonwealth Games..!!

If the tardiness of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010 in completing projects for the sporting extravaganza is frustrating you, take a virtual leap and do your bit.

Issues around preparations of Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG) have caught imagination of gaming industry and now an online game is doing rounds where players can work diligently to finalize arrangements for the games

As preparations for the mega sporting event hit a feverish pitch, an online game has been launched, where players have to build roads, Metro network, hotels and even plan security for the event before the deadline to win.

Online gaming company http://www.koffii.com/ has developed a game 'Delhi Games 2010', where the player has to make the Commonwealth sporting meet a success.

The company is offering gamers a chance to become Suresh Kalmadi and head the Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010.

Explaining the concept of the game, Vishwalok Nath, the brain behind the project, said, "In the game, Mike Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), is shown pulling up Suresh Kalmadi for failing to meet the deadline for Commonwealth Games' preparations. So the gamer becomes Kalmadi and tries to finish the project on time.

The task is to complete all the levels before Fennell to win the game. There are four levels in the game. In the first level, one has to construct roads. In the second level, the player has to finish the Metro network and in the third, hotels have to be readied. In the final level one has to make security arrangements."

And such has been its popularity that within few days of being launched, the gaming site has attracted many virtual gamers. "Most online gamers are excited to play this game as the Commonwealth Games is a prestige point for the nation and everyone wants it to be a success. However, we are also aware Mike Fennell has been questioning the preparations of the game," said Purav, a city-based gamer.

IOA, CWG OC to comply with RTI act

The sports ministry has asked the Indian Olympic Association and 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee to comply with Right to Information Act and immediately appoint Central Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities.

The IOA and 2010 CWG OC has been sent communications to this effect in pursuance to the Delhi High Court order of January 7, which has declared both entities as Public Authorities under RTI Act of 2005, a release said today.

"Both organisations have further been asked to fulfil various obligations of being a Public Authority as per Section 4 of the Right to Information Act 2005, including maintaining all their records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner so as to facilitate the right to information under this Act and suomoto disclosure/publishing of information pertaining to IOA/OC," the release added.