Delhi getting ready for 2010 Commonwealth Games

Dec 07:  Hold in every four years, the Commonwealth Games is one of the mega sporting events with multi national and multi sport activities. Earlier the event was known as British Empire Games and the British Commonwealth Games and later named the present one in 1978 with a unanimous decision by all its member nations.

2010 Commonwealth Games

The upcoming event of this sort schedules to be held in the year 2010 in New Delhi, capital city of India. Delhi with its ancient, medieval and modern flavour will be in the centre of the world’s attraction as the city is going to stage some of the exciting game of events in the Commonwealth Games from October 03 to Oct14, 2010. This will be the third biggest event hosted in Delhi after the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games.

In fact on Nov 13, 2003 in the Commonwealth Games Federation at Jamaica, Delhi obtained maximum of 46 votes defeating Hamilton, a Canadian port city of Ontario province to 22 votes at the voting in General Assembly meet held in Jamaica.

Host City DELHI

The capital city and the political epicentre of India, Delhi with population over 15 million will be a perfect host considering its importance of cultural history and its rich traditional flavour with all modern amenities as the Government of India is making all its effort to facilitate the comfort to thousands of sport lovers all across the world. This is for the first time the nation is hosting the game and also the second city in Asia to do so.

The city primarily of two parts as Old Delhi - the symbol of Muslim culture with mosque like Jama Masjid and the magnificent Red Fort (Lal Quila) holds all flavours of medieval culture symbolising period of Moghul India and New Delhi the reign of British Empire with buildings of modern times that leaves a sense of British Raj and nation’s colonial past.

Sporting Actions

The entire event will comprise of various games including Aquatics, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Cycling, Gymnastics, Hockey, Lawn Bowls, Netball, Rugby 7s, Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting, and Wrestling.

Games Venues

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium - Opening and Closing ceremonies, Athletics, Lawn bowls, Weightlifting
Dhyan Chand National Stadium – Hockey
Talkatora Stadium - Boxing
Yamuna Sports Complex - Table tennis
Indira Gandhi Arena - Archery, Cycling, Gymnastics, Wrestling
Delhi University sports complex - Rugby 7s
Tyagaraj Sports Complex - Netball
Siri Fort Sports Complex - Badminton, Squash
Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range - Shooting
SPM Swimming Pool Complex - Aquatics
RK Khanna Tennis Complex – Tennis

Preparatory Activities

The central government has sanctioned a budget of Rs 5,200 crore for the complete infrastructural development that will be released on phase wise within a span of four years as the preparatory activities progress under a long-term development plans.

With the existing infrastructure of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Sports Authority of India, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), New Delhi Metro Corporation (NDMC) and Delhi University (DU) the Government of Delhi will undertake major renovation and upgradation work along with constructing a number of coaching venues, training sites, sports complexes, hotels and other required need in terms of transport and travel.

The government has also assured Commonwealth Games Federation that all construction work related to games would be completed by 2009. Hence the administration has speeded up its work assigning plans to different firms.

The purposed Commonwealth Games village is something that is set to be built on the Yamuna riverbed and the contract had been given to a Dubai based real estate firm Emaar-MGF. As per the plan there will be three residential blocks with a capacity of about 8,500 athletes and delegates in around 4,000 rooms. The entire plan is scheduled to be finished on December 2009.

The Jal Board would also carry out a water cleansing plan of the river that accounts cost of Rs 1000 crore.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has also identified several sites for building hotels to facilitate accommodation in the city.

The Public Works Department is also assigned to build a modern sporting complex with number of outdoor greens for Lawn Bowls, tennis courts, multipurpose air-conditioned indoor stadium for wrestling, badminton, net ball along with training venue.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the 2012 London Olympic Organising committee for mutual cooperation as both cities are going to organise two mega sporting events.

Transport Modernisation

The authority will add new flyovers and widen roads to smooth the progress of traffic during the event. The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is planning to bring 6,000 additional buses including over 1000 high capacity air-conditioned buses and modern bus shelters.

Development of a tunnel is also in the card that will connect the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium with the games village. By 2010, the NDMC is also planning to extend the Metro train service to the Indira Gandhi International Airport, which will ensure a greater mobility to the city.

Moreover, the government is also planning to spend 300 crore for the training of sports persons so that the country can bag a considerable number of medals. Though till time it’s not clear how the proceedings of all these plans are progressing but by the end of 2009 everything has to be in place for such a mega sporting event that will draw sport enthusiasts and tourists from all over the world giving each one an experience of a lifetime.