CWG CoCom happy with Delhi Games' sponsorship programme

The CWG Co-ordination Commission today said the sponsorship programme for this year's Commonwealth Games has yielded good results, according to the organisers.

CGF CEO Mike Hooper, who was at loggerheads with OC Chairman Suresh Kalmadi a few months back, was quoted as saying in a statement that the sponsorship programme has made significant progress.

"With what has already been contracted, and what is currently at contract stage, the sponsorship programme has almost eclipsed what Melbourne achieved in 2006. Melbourne was the most successful sponsorship campaign in the history of the Commonwealth Games by a significant margin," Hooper said in the statement, released by the orgainsers.

"While the total currently sits at USD 74 million, the presentation today confirmed that there is now very good prospects in a number of other key sponsorship categories," he added.

Progress in CWG sponsorship deals

The Commonwealth Games Coordination Commission, during its meeting here on Tuesday with the Organising Committee, praised the progress made on the sponsorship front.

“We were particularly pleased with the in-roads being made in the area of sponsorship and the results achieved to date. With what has already been contracted, and what is currently at the contract stage, the sponsorship programme has almost eclipsed what Melbourne achieved in 2006,” Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper said.

“While the total currently sits at $74 million, the presentation today confirmed that there is now very good prospect in a number of other key sponsorship categories,” he added.

Test event for CWG held in Chennai

Even as the CWG 2010 organizers are racing against time to meet deadlines to deliver all stadia for the Commonwealth Games in time, the test events for the Games, which were supposed to be the barometer for the preparedness of the marquee event, are leaving a lot to be desired.

The Siri Fort Complex, which hosted the Asian badminton championships last month, was to host for the Asian squash championhip scheduled from April 21-May 5, but the event was eventually held in Chennai as the Siri Fort complex was not ‘completely ready’. With the purpose lost, the Squash Racquets Federation of India is now planning to have a test event after the venue is ready in June.

"The calendar of the events is decided earlier, so the dates cannot be changed. The venue was not fully ready, so we decided to hold the event in Chennai. It will be ready by June. We may hold a test event after that," said Srivatsan Subramaniam, secretary general, Squash Racquets Federation of India (SRFI). National coach Cyrus Poncha revealed that the decision to shift the event to Chennai was taken sometime in January. "We were not sure about a few things. So we decided to change the venue in January. The stadium is virtually ready now. It will be complete very soon. We will definitely have something (test event) then," he said.

Meanwhile, top Indian players sounded unperturbed and are focused on doing well in the coming events.

"It doesn’t really matter where we play. We as professionals have to play at different places but I hope that it is finished on time," said Dipika Pallikal, ranked 38 in the world. India’s top-ranked squash player, Saurav Ghosal, who lost in the semifinals of the championships, sounded satisfied with his performance and hoped that a test event would happen before the CWG.

"I played really well except Monday. Though I am disappointed, I am not getting bogged down and am looking forward to playing better in the coming tournaments. I am not sure what these guys are working on but getting to play at the Siri Fort complex before the Games would certainly help," Ghosal said.

David, Iskander defend title

World No. 1 Nicol David of Malaysia retained her Asian Championship women’s title defeating Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 in 24 minutes.

Later, another Malaysian, Mohammad Azlan Iskander, also defended the men’s title after Amir Atlas Khan of Pakistan conceded the match in the third game due to a niggle in his right knee. Iskander was leading 11-8, 11-4, 3-0 when the match was called off.

Tenure regulations will have no bearing on CWG: Gill

Sports Minister M S Gill on Tuesday insisted that the new regulations limiting the tenures of National Sports Federations' office-bearers will have no impact on the Commonwealth Games later this year.

"We have made it clear that all office bearers (sports bodies) continue their work and as and when future elections come which are mainly in 2012, 2013 and 2014, these regulations will apply," Gill told reporters outside parliament.

"IOC says 12 years for the president, age limit of 70 and we said we will go with that. So now 12 years. But if somebody wants 12 into 30 and plus 40 I have nothing to say. That's all we have done nothing more, nothing less," he said.

After the Sports Ministry came out with an order limiting the office terms of sports administrators, many including IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi and Judo federation chief Jagdish Tytler, both Congress MPs, have criticised the move.

"Its a free country and I welcome comment," Gill said.

Gill, maintained that he has just restored the previous order issued by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974-75.

"Let me explain what we have precisely done. In the time of Mrs Indira Gandhi, 1974-75 these regulations were issued by the Education Sports Ministry limiting terms among other things for better management and promotion of sports in India. That was the fundamental objective.

"However, these had been set aside in a casual order in August 2002 by the then minister. We have restored the regulations of 74-75. I have made no new regulations of my own."

Defending his decisions he said, "We have studied IOC regulations and we say let's stick with what IOC has done so that we are in tune with them.

High profile Australian delegation satisfied with CWG security

Australian Minister for Trade Simon Crean today gave thums up to the security preparations for the Commonwealth Games to be held here in October.

Crean along with the Australian High Commissioner to India Peter Varghese and a delegation of senior officials, Chairman Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi Suresh Kalmadi here.

The Australian minister enquired about the Organising Committee's readiness and preparedness for the upcoming XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi, to which he was duly apprised and briefed in detail by Kalmadi. Security was also an issue, which came up for discussion during the meeting. Kalmadi allayed fears about security and referred to the recent success in organising the Commonwealth test events.

The minister expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements for the Games. Kalmadi explained in length about issues related to venue infrastructure, assuring the delegation that everything would be ready in time for the Games.

Nearly 4,000 tourist guides to be employed for CWG

Nearly 4,000 regional tourist guides would be employed keeping in mind the expected rise in demand during the Commonwealth Games in October, a tourism ministry official said Tuesday.

The guides will be distributed in five regions across the country - northern, southern, eastern, western and northeastern - and will be given licences under the tourism ministry’s scheme of Regional Level Guides.

“The number of Regional Level Guides until 2007 was 1,930 of which 1,154 were in the northern region alone. Thereafter, 602 such guides have been trained during 2009-10 by the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), Gwalior,” the official said.

“In addition to this, there will be 1,400 foreign language guides. Thus the total number of guides available before the Games will be 3,932,” he added.

Gill defends new regulations; says no affect on CWG

Sticking to his guns in the face of stringent criticism from various federation bosses, Sports minister MS Gill today asserted that the new regulations limiting the tenures of NSF and IOA officials will not affect the Commonwealth Games later this year. The minister said the new regulations will not have any immediate effect, but will come into operation when the National Sports
Federations (NSF) next hold their elections.

''We have made it clear that all office bearers (sports bodies) continue their work and as and when future elections come which are mainly in 2012, 2013 and 2014, these regulations will apply,'' Gill told reporters outside the Parliament. ''The IOC says 12 years for the president, age limit of 70 and we said we will go with that. So now 12 years. But if somebody wants 12 into 30 and plus 40 I have nothing to say. That's all we have done nothing more, nothing less,'' he added. Gill was unperturbed despite severe criticism of his move, including Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi stating that he has just restored the previous order issued by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974-75. ''Its a free country and I welcome comment.

''Let me explain what we have precisely done. In the time of Mrs Indira Gandhi, 1974-75 these regulations were issued by the Education Sports Ministry limiting terms among other things for better management and promotion of sports in India. That was the fundamental objective,'' Gill said. ''However, these had been set aside in a casual order in August 2002 by the then minister. We have restored the regulations of 74-75. I have made no new regulations of my own. ''We have studied IOC regulations and we say let's stick with what IOC has done so that we are in tune with them,'' he added.

Commonwealth Queen’s baton to reach India June 25

After travelling through 71 countries, the Queen’s baton will reach India June 25 ahead of the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games. The relay will be the longest ever in the history of the games.

The Queen’s baton is currently in the world’s smallest island nation of Nauru in the South Pacific Ocean on day 188 Tuesday of the relay, which was flagged off by Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace Oct 29, 2009.

From the Pacific islands, the baton will travel to Australia and New Zealand, before making landfall on the Asian continent at Singapore.

The specially-designed baton, made of light-weight aluminium and plated with gold, will wind its way through Asia, before reaching India from Pakistan June 25.

When it finally touches Indian soil, the baton would have travelled through 71 nations and territories for a total of 340 days covering 190,000 kilometres.

Within the country, the baton will travel another 20,000 kilometres, which will be a serpentine journey through 28 states and seven union territories before ending at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Oct 3.

Hurriyat asks Kashmiris abroad to stage protests during CWG

The Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday appealed to Kashmiris living abroad to stage peaceful protests during the Commonwealth Games in October to draw attention of the world community towards the "grave situation" prevailing in the valley.

"In the run up to the event, Games Torch is travelling from country to country from May 15. Kashmiris living abroad, should organise peaceful protests to convince world about ... problems in Jammu and Kashmir," a statement from Chairman of hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, said.

Geelani also appealed to the heads of Commonwealth countries to help Kashmiris on humanitarian grounds and use their good offices to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Secure radio network planned for CWG

A secure radio network is being planned for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to facilitate easy communication between various government agencies, the Lok Sabha was told Tuesday.

‘The government is planning to create a secure radio network using the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) facility for the Commonwealth Games. The system will provide integrated, secured, encrypted, state of art communication network for use during Commonwealth Games,’ Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kalikesh N. Singh Deo said in the house.

The network will be used by 18 government agencies, including the Commonwealth Organising Committee, Delhi Police and health and family welfare ministry.

BJP protests govt's failure to solve water crisis

Protesting the government failure in solving the water crisis in trans-Yamuna areas, the Delhi BJP today said the government's priorities were IPL matches and Commonwealth Games even as the people of Delhi were ''crying for water''.

Holding a protest demonstration at Bhajanpura Chowk in east Delhi, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leaders strongly criticised the Congress government for its failure to give priority to the availability of water and its proper distribution.

''The priorities of the government are IPL matches and the CWG whereas the people of Delhi are crying for water,'' Delhi BJP president O P Kohli said.

Besides Prof Kohli, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly V K Malhotra, National General Secretary Vijay Goel, Party Legislators Sahab Singh Chauhan and Naresh Gaur and former Chairman of the Standing Committee Vijendra Gupta also participated in the demonstration. Saying that there is a grave scarcity of water in trans- Yamuna areas, Mr Kohli flayed Congress MLA Narendra Nath for misbehaving with the people .

''In place of giving assurance for solving the problem, they misbehave with the aggrieved people,'' Prof Kohli said. All the speakers at the demonstration termed the diversion of water from Ghonda area to Mustafabad as a step based on politics. They said the people of Ghonda and Babarpur are already suffering due to the scarcity of water. If the water of these areas is diverted to other areas, then the people of these areas would crave for a single drop of water.

Delhi Police rapped for under utilising CWG funds

Delhi Police has been rapped by a Parliamentary panel for under-utilisation of funds allotted for modernising its traffic and communication network, noting that there was "serious lacunae" in the implementation of the project ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by M Venkaiah Naidu expressed "great concern" that the project was not initially timed to be completed before the sporting event in October.

The panel also said the Home Ministry has told them that the Delhi government was of the view that the provision of Rs 50 crore made in the budget was not sufficient for completion of Commonwealth Games related projects and needed to be enhanced to Rs 1,000 crore.

"The Committee expresses its displeasure over the under-utilisation of funds meant for modernisation of Traffic and Communication network for which Rs 40 crore was allocated in budget estimates in 2009-10 but only an amount of Rs 10.63 crore could be utilised which indicates serious lacunae in the implementation aspects of the project," it said.

The panel was also "perturbed" to note that the remaining amount has been appropriated for other purposes namely Delhi Police Building Programme.

This was mentioned in its 144th report on Demands for Grants of Home Ministry presented in the Rajya Sabha last week. The panel discussed this matter while discussing security for the Commonwealth Games.

It suggested that the government provide funds to put in place a fool proof security system, noting that organising such an event is a "major challenge" not only from the point of view of infrastructure investment but also from the security aspect "given the global security scenario".

The panel said it has been told by the Home Ministry that Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) will put in place an integrated security system at 36 venues by June 30. Most of the equipment for CCTVs and access control would also be made available by June.

The work regarding installation, commission and testing of Wide Area Network will go up to September three.

The Committee also asked the Home Ministry whether the provision of Rs 50 crore for Delhi government in the budget 2010-11 would be sufficient for completion of remaining Commonwealth Games related projects.

"The Ministry has stated that the Delhi government has informed that the provision of Rs 50 crore made in the budget was not sufficient for completion of remaining projects and it needed to be enhanced to Rs 1,000 crore," the report said.

Doordarshan geared up for HDTV coverage of Commonwealth Games

Doordarshan has begun a major exercise in educating the multi-system operators and cable operators about high definition television which will be introduced in the country along with the Commonwealth Games in October this year.

Doordarshan director-general Aruna Sharma told indiantelevision.com that she had met representatives of multi-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators in Mumbai and Delhi to answer any queries about HDTV.

This will be the first time in Commonwealth Games history that the event is being broadcast in High Definition digital, also marking a critical milestone for Indian television.

Sharma said that introduction of HDTV will not necessarily mean buying new television sets. The plasma screen TV sets are already geared for HDTV. For the other TV sets, it may be necessary to replace the set top box.

Doordarshan is establishing two HDTV studios in Delhi and Mumbai, and field production and post production facilities in four metros. The HDTV uplink will be set up at Delhi and HDTV terrestrial transmitters will be installed in four metros.

The XIX Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 will be held from 3 to 14 October. The competition will feature 17 sports, with around 8,500 athletes and officials from 71 Commonwealth Games Federation member countries expected to attend.

Sharma denied that Doordarshan had sought any increase over the budget allocated for the games – Rs 3.66 billion. However, she said this figure is for coverage of the games and does not include expenditure being incurred by Doordarshan as rights holder broadcaster.

Sharma said the pact with Satellite Information Services Live was working according to plan. The agreement with SIS was for a contract price of Rs 2.46 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, SIS LIVE will provide all the production facilities and personnel to cover 17 different sports across 12 venues in Delhi, as well as the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies.

Sharma said Doordarshan is deputing 50 personnel for covering three events – wrestling (for which a new stadium is being built next to Nehru Stadium), boxing and weight-lifting. Other events will be covered by the SIS teams.

Apart from providing the technical infrastructure to cover the Games, SIS LIVE is providing over 1,000 highly skilled technical and production staff at the 12 venues.

Australia ’s Global Television with its Indian partner Shaf Broadcast are designing, installing and will operate the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) for the Games.

The IBC is the hub for all Commonwealth Games broadcasting activity, handling incoming television pictures and sound from the host broadcaster, distributing that footage to international rights holders and managing rights holders’ outgoing transmissions.

The Delhi Commonwealth Games IBC will house studio and reporting facilities for broadcasters and journalists from around the world. Occupying 8,000 square meters, up to 1,500 broadcast professionals will be based at the IBC.

Sharma said the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BESIL) had been contracted as a delivery partner on a turn-key basis for setting up the Main Press Centre at Pragati Maidan. An expenditure of Rs 317.5 million is to be incurred on this work, which includes carrying out media operations at the Main Press Centre and the venue Media Centres for the Games. BESIL is expected to complete its work by 30 September.

Doordarshan earlier this month received clearance of Rs 6.20 billion for digitalisation of 40 transmitters and studios in the Doordarshan network during the 11th Plan. This includes networking of DTT through satellite, augmentation of DMCs by providing equipment and facilities for maintaining the digital infrastructure, providing five sets of digital measurement equipment at zonal offices, providing 60 UPS at High Power Transmitters to ensure uninterrupted power supply, R&D and Training, digitalisation of 31 partially digitalised and 8 analogue studio centers, digitalisation of archiving facilities, and digitalisation of news automation system and e-governance and IT Scheme.

Earlier, Doordarshan had set aside an amount of Rs 12.09 billion of a total approved outlay of Rs. 13.69 billion just for digitization in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012).