Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium vaults to the finishing line

After months of speculation about the delay in construction of the Commonwealth Games venues, there finally seems to be good news as the city saw a spate of openings of stadia this week.

After Thyagaraj and Chattrasal, it was the turn of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to throw open the gates of Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Saturday. The stadium, which is being touted as the biggest indoor stadium in the country, has been remodelled and reconstructed by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

The main competition venue for gymnastics, the IG stadium has been completely renovated and upgraded for the Commonwealth Games at a cost of Rs 240 crore.

While the built-up area is a staggering 72,425 sqm, it has a seating capacity of 14,500, making it the biggest stadium in the country. What makes the stadium interesting however, is the state of the art facilities, including 2,200 lux sports lighting system, which will make it possible for the latest HDTV transmission.

Like the Thyagaraj stadium of the Delhi government, it also boasts of several green building features like thermal insulation of the entire roof, gypsum board partitions and wall panelling, external glazing with low energy tinted glasses and energy efficient lighting fixtures.

Also, water conservation features like water harvesting by recharging of the existing lake in the complex by rain water has been remodelled into the stadium complex. Sources at Central Public Works Department said the entire stadium will also be put under electronic surveillance through fixed and PTZ cameras connected to a central control room, which will have integrated network for connecting various facilities, to meet the operational requirement of various tournaments.

MS Gill, union minister of youth affairs and sports inaugurated the stadium.

Also present was Delhi chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, who reiterated that the government would ensure that all venues as well as infrastructure was ready on time for the Games. Accompanying the two were senior government officials as well as Games organizing committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, state minister for sports and youth welfare Pratik P Patil, Sindhushree Khullar, secretary, union ministry of sports and Sayan Chatterjee, director general of Sports Authority of India.

Added Gill, "This is an outstanding stadium and a remarkable engineering marvel. It is equipped with all the modern facilities and is the largest covered and air-conditioned stadium in India."

Prize-winning writers on Commonwealth Games menu

Literary enthusiasts may get a chance to interact with award-winning authors at a special event during the Commonwealth Games that will host all the previous winners of the annual Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. “We hope to hold a literary event in the cultural programmes associated with the Games and will invite authors who have won Commonwealth Prize,” Commonwealth Foundation director Mike Collins said.

The previous winners of the award include Vikram Chandra, Jhumpa Lahiri, Mohammed Hanif, V S Naipaul, J M Coetzee, Indra Sinha, Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood. “India is at the heart of the Commonwealth and it is great to have the Games and the literary award come here,” Collins said.

Established in 1987, the award covers Commonwealth regions of Africa, the Caribbean and Canada, Europe and South Asia and Southeast Asia and Pacific. It aims to reward the best fiction written in English. “We are constantly looking at local publishers. For the first time we have a winner from Samoa, a lesser known African country,” Collins added.

Athletics coach quits CWG camp

Veteran coach Harbans Singh has quit the national athletics preparatory camp for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, claiming that federation was adopting double standards for the foreign and Indian coaches.

Harbans, a former national coach, said it was difficult to work in the “hostile atmosphere” at the camp in Bangalore. “When the authorities don’t want to coordinate, it’s difficult to give a good performance,” he told The Sunday Express from Chandigarh.

Harbans, whose ward Paramjeet Singh broke Milkha Singh’s long standing record in the 400m race in 1999, was in-charge of the Indian team before he left for Australia in 2004. He agreed to join the preparatory camp last year after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) approached him.

He was shifted from training the men’s 400m team to the women’s 100m. However, the flashpoint came when one of the six female sprinters, HM Jyothi, was shifted to train under foreign expert Dimitri V.

“If the federation gives the Indian coaches free hand, we can prove better,” said Harbans, whose proposal to shift the camp from Bangalore was also turned down.

Meanwhile, chief national coach Bahadur Singh said Harbans quit due to personal problems and not because of AFI’s policies. “Harbans has mentioned in his resignation letter that he is giving up due to family problems. So, why talk about AFI wrong policy?” he asked.

Painting the city red!

Several eminent artists and budding painters as well as children participated in large numbers at the Indian Gate lawns recently, in the green games event that was organised by the Organising Committee for the Commonwealth Games 2010.

The occasion was to commemorate the ‘200-days-to-go’ milestone for the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be hosted in Delhi. Gracing the occasion was Suresh Kalmadi, chairman, organising committee, Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi, along with his wife Meera.

Suresh said, “The ‘200 day-to-go’ milestone event marks our appreciation for the spirit of the games among the people of Delhi and the nation as a whole. The 200-foot canvas that is being painted by eminent artists of Delhi will be put on display at a suitable place during the Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010. We are happy to see the overwhelming response of Delhiites, who came in huge numbers to attend the function. The celebrations have begun, and we will be organising many such events every fortnight at various places in and around Delhi till the actual games take off in the month of October this year.”

Talking about Pune being named as the new IPL team, Kalmadi added, “Pune is a sporting city and it’s big news for all the residents there, including me. The city has been associated with various sporting activities for years now, and I’m delighted to hear that Pune will be soon be a part of the IPL action. This will create an opportunity for all upcoming cricketers to showcase their talent.” Eminent painters like Satish Gujral and Jatin Das displayed their skills to inaugurate the milestone event. There was a 200 ft canvas set up at the lawns of India Gate, which was painted by the artists. Within an hour, we saw a rich kaleidoscope of themes of what the Commonwealth Games 2010 meant for each Delhiite.

Das said, “I have always been associated with social issues and cause-related projects. The Commonwealth Games 2010 is certainly going to be one of the prestigious landmarks for the sporting culture in our country. I feel proud as an Indian to be associated with such an activity.”

Shovana Narayan was spotted at the event chatting with her artist friend Naresh Kapuria. Also spotted at the event were Poornima Pendse, Sunaina Anand, Vikram Baidyanath, Sangita, Indu and others.
Jasleen, one of the participants said, “I wish the organisers had set up few more canvases here. It was too crowded; I hardly got the chance to paint on the huge canvas.” The function also included a kite flying festival where 200 kites of various shapes and sizes dotted the sky. Professional kite flyers flew the colourful kites in the sky that carried the slogan ‘200-days-to-go.’

India's largest indoor arena inaugurated in Delhi

Sports minister MS Gill was cheerful at the inauguration of the renovated Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the gymnastics venue for the Commonwealth Games, and took the opportunity to reiterate the promise of delivering the best games.

“Through the Commonwealth Games, Delhi will show to the world that it is far modern than others. It will surprise visitors from all over the world. We are a young India and we will deliver the best games,” Gill said after he inaugurated the largest indoor venue in the country along with Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

The venue, reconstructed at a cost of Rs240 crore, has a built-up area of 72,425 square metres and can seat 14,500 persons. It is equipped with several green-building features and water conservation features and will be under constant electronic surveillance through fixed and PTZ cameras. “This is an outstanding stadium and a remarkable engineering marvel. It is equipped with all the modern facilities and is the largest covered and air-conditioned stadium in India,” Gill added.

Organising committee chairman, Suresh Kalmadi, said it was a dream come true. “When the participants come to India for Commonwealth test events they will themselves find stadium above their expectations. Every infrastructure is of global standards. All the 71 participating nations will find the preparations satisfactory,” said Kalmadi.

M.S. Gill wants labourers’ safety at Commonwealth Games sites

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports M.S.Gill on Saturday said that safety of the labourers working on the Commonwealth Games should be kept in mind.

Gill said this during the inauguration of the emodelled and reconstructed Indira Gandhi indoor stadium here.

Also present on this occasion were Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC) Suresh Kalmadi.

Speaking on this occasion, Gill said: “As I have always said that whatever we are making, the labourers have a big role and their safety is our responsibility. So I keep reminding the engineers time and again about the labourers’ safety. If you see, in Nehru Stadium they (labourers) work at such heights and safety concerns must be taken into considerations. Secondly, they must, what I said because I read in the press that whatever is their rights they must get that and on time. There should not be any delay.”

The new Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, with built-up area of 72,425 sqm, has been completely renovated for the XIX Commonwealth Games at a total cost of Rupees 240 crore (2.4 billion rupees).

With a total seating capacity of 14,500, the stadium is the largest indoor stadium in India, with state of the art facilities including 2200 Lux sports lighting system.

The entire stadium will be under electronic surveillance through fixed and PTZ cameras connected to central control room, which will have integrated network for connecting various facilities, to meet the operational requirement of various tournaments.

The Indira Gandhi indoor stadium will serve as the gymnastics venue of the Commonwealth Games to be held later this year in October.

For Emaar MGF, Is Second Time the Charm?

Real estate firm Emaar MGF Land Ltd. will once again try its luck in raising capital, but don’t hold your breath for a roaring success.

The cash-strapped company, a joint venture between an Indian developer and a Dubai firm, has been trying to raise funds for more than two years now. Even if it does actually hit the market this time, which it says it hopes to do within the next three months, it could end up raising less than its original target of 38.5 billion rupees ($869 million).

The company made its first attempt at an initial public offering in 2008. To say it didn’t go well would be an understatement. It had to refund investors’ money because of poor subscription amid the collapse of the global economy. To get extra cash last year, the company had to sell an additional 333 apartments of the 1,168-flats in its 2010 Commonwealth Games Village project to its public partner, the Delhi Development Authority land agency.

Now, a sustained rally in Indian stocks has given the company another chance.

But investors have become skeptical, having incurred heavy losses in real estate stocks. They are interested in companies’ short to medium-term growth rather than hypothetical future cash flows, says Citigroup India’s capital markets head Ravi Kapoor.

A big brand doesn’t matter as much as a company’s ability to repay its debt, and Emaar is struggling on that front. It plans to use a part of the IPO proceeds to repay its 50 billion rupees of debt outstanding as of March 31. With numerous companies from various industries in the fray to issue IPOs, investors will not exactly be jumping at the opportunity to buy a debt-ridden company. To attract investors, Emaar will have to consider pricing its shares more reasonably than it might like.

Company executives seemed confident on television recently that Emaar would be successful in its fund-raising attempts. A company spokeswoman on Friday told India Real Time that Emaar’s recent residential housing projects had been received well by consumers.

Let’s see how things turn out this time around.