Will we, wont we?? The 2010 CWG – India’s pride at stake

    Come 3 October, 2010, India is “supposed!!” to host the Opening ceremony of the quadrennial event, The Commonwealth Games (CWG). This is the first big event to be held the India since the 1982 Asian games. With exactly 4 weeks to go before the start of the Commonwealth games 2010, let us check the overview of the games.

The logo:

The 19 venues for the games are as below:

    *     Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi – Athletics, lawn bowls and weightlifting also hosts the Opening and Closing ceremonies.
    *     Dhyan Chand National Stadium – Hockey
    *     Indira Gandhi Arena – Archery, cycling, gymnastics, wrestling
    *     Delhi University sports complex – Rugby sevens
    *     Thyagaraj Stadium – Netball
    *     Siri Fort Sports Complex – Badminton, Squash
    *     Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range – Shooting
    *     Talkatora Stadium – Boxing
    *     SPM Swimming Pool Complex – Aquatics
    *     RK Khanna Tennis Complex – Tennis
    *     Yamuna Sports Complex – Table tennis

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

Games Village is situated close to the famous Akshardham temple. The facilities included are:

    *     14 blocks, 34 residential towers having 1168 AC apartments with 4008 bedrooms for the guests.
    *     The Main Dining Hall with a seating capacity of 2300, capable of serving 22000 meals daily.
    *     A Polyclinic to provide Medical services.
    *     Fitness center, Bank, post office, general store and a hair salon.
    *     Prayer rooms for all faiths.
    *     Facilities for athletes to train for athletics, aquatics, weightlifting and wrestling.

Sheru the mascot – “represents the modern Indian, proud of his nation’s ancient heritage and a fierce competitor but with integrity and honesty”.

“Jiyo Utho Badho Jeeto” – The official song composed by A R Rahman.

Trouble before the games: 

    Our motto during the bidding of the CWG was “New Frontiers and Friendships”. What we meant by New frontier was, stooping so low at organizing these games, that new frontiers of in-capabilities and corruption were faced at all levels possible. Manishanker Aiyer, the former Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs, was one of the first to talk rather be a whistle blower, about the delay in the preparation for the games. He said that he would be “unhappy” if the Games were a success and wished for the “Commonwealth games to be spoiled.” and hoped “the expenses could have been utilized for ensuring a better sporting future for Indian children by providing them sports training”. Now, this could as well be a political tactic. But there is some truth in that. Once a hole was made in the wall, however small it was, the rats or rather the media were waiting to grab the opportunity for increasing their TRP ratings for the next one month, went in and took the place apart. Thus came story after story of inefficiencies and troubles which the Organizing Committee face even at the present moment and hopefully will not for the next whole month once the games begin.

    1) Corruption allegation – Works awarded to ineligible agencies. Higher prices awarded for works. Items incurred for rent at a cost much higher than what it would have cost to purchase them. Poor quality of work.

    2) Half built Stadiums – 13 of the 19 venues behind the final schedule of August 31.
    Venue safety at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, or any other stadium, where the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) report suggested use of sub-standard materials and fabricated case results. Safety certifications undelivered on other completed stadiums.

    3) Damage in the track itself due to heavy rains – needs to be rectified by the IAAF.
    The Scoring systems not ready – TSR (Thomas Scoring and Results) equipment which are the actual Scoring systems during the games are unready. TRS is the technology responsible for storing data and  recording timings. Now add the cameras and communications to that list. Thankfully, the deadline for this is October 3.
   
    4) Games village unready – For Instance, Catering is not yet ready for Sept 16, when the officials around 300 to 400 members from various countries arrive, which is just 10 days away.

    5) Is the security in the stadium compromised because of the delay?
    The home ministry revealed that the security agencies will not have access to the stadiums till September 8, which implies they have only one week to install the systems required for monitoring and securing the Games against the actual request of 4 weeks. Now the security agency has to work 4 times faster which implies forget sleep for the next 45 days.
  
    6) Rains creating havoc with roads – reports of roads caving-in found all over the news papers.
  
    7) Delhi traffic – can the athletes reach the venues on time? Solution suggested is for a dedicated lane for the games and free metro & bus transport for people with games tickets. This is a good idea. But will the people of Delhi for once, show some common sense and follow that??
  
    8) 1221 Dengue cases this year which is the highest in last five years and against a handful last year. What if the athletes are hit??
  
    9) “Jiyo Utho Badho Jeeto” – The official song composed by A R Rahman ran into trouble with politicians and games organizers combining to condemn the song, for lacking enthusiasm and not appealing to the global audience, like the super-hit “waka waka” of Shakira fame for the FIFA world cup. Rahman seems to be reworking on that. I wonder what the committee were doing, till Rahman went public about the song. Couldn’t they have had a preview of that and asked him to change before he went public. Surely, stupidity levels are reaching sky limit.
  
    Now how can we add some salt to the wound and readily the athletes put their hands up to be counted and add more shame:
    10)  Doping shame –
        4 wrestlers, shot-putter in CWG squad fail dope test.
        Three swimmers, including two in CWG team fail dope test.
      
    11) Big star athletes pulling out of the event citing various reasons. To name a few:

    * Usain Bolt. for people who haven’t heard of him – World and Olympic record holder in the 100m, the 200m & 4x100m relay.
    *  Mo Farah of England – Two-time European champion long distance runner.
    *  David Rudisha of Kenya – 800m world record holder.
    *  Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica – 100m reigning Olympic champion and World champion.
    *  Chris Hoy of Britain – multiple world champion and Olympic Games gold medal winner.

    12) Terror threat to the games – Whenever there is a mega event, these are quite common. But with Maoists joining the band to say: “Why should only jihadis scare our people, we should do it too”, the alarms for another “Munich” have been ringing for quite some time.

     These games are not about winning or losing medals. It is about showing your culture to the rest of the world. And I believe, we have lost out on a big opportunity in this front with these huge glitches or rather potholes in the planning and execution. But with this atleast, there are some positives. The athletes at the national level have atleast a good stadium to win a few medals in Asian and the next CWG if not the Olympics. The people of Delhi have a good new airport terminal, better roads and amenities such a excess power than what was present before the games.


 Now comes the big question. Will we, wont we host good games???

    I was under the delusion that maybe in another 20 years we would have been capable of hosting the Olympics or the FIFA world cup. But looking at the sorry state of affairs, that seems inevitably “over-confident”. The organizing committee is on “Hope, pray and work your asses off” mode. Now hope is a big word here. For that hope to turn into reality, we as Indians, as always, need to pull the stuff together, during the last few days and deliver the “average” games atleast. Forget comparing ourselves to Beijing or Melbourne or Manchester games. This is the matter of national pride. If the games are even a partial failure, it will be talked about for decades to come. When a tiny nation like South Africa could handle the FIFA world cup, then we can too. It all depends on the efforts the Delhi government, the security agencies, the contractors, suppliers, labor force, volunteers and especially the athletes to put their best efforts through. The rest depends on the Rain god, mosquitoes and as usual, most importantly, the conduct of the people of Delhi. Now I and hope you too join the organizing committee and a nation in their prayers for a successful games.. 🙂