Indian teams for Commonwealth shooting

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has announced the Indian teams for

the Commonwealth shooting championship to be held at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, from February 17 to 28.

Though it will be a dress rehearsal for the

Commonwealth Games to be staged in October, the shooting event may not reflect the true strength of India, as some of the leading shooters like, shotgun marksmen Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ronjan Sodhi, Mansher Singh, Anwer Sultan, Zorawar Singh, rifle shooters Suma Shirur, Avneet Kaur, pistol shooters Harveen Srao and Heena Sidhu, do not figure in the team.

The release from NRAI also confirmed the participation, of a 17-member team from England, in the championship that will feature rifle, pistol and shotgun events for men and women.

The teams: Men: Rifle: Sanjeev Rajput, Gagan Narang, Imran Hasan Khan, Joydeep Karmakar, Sushil Ghaley and P. T. Raghunath.

Pistol: Viraj Singh, Bapu Vanzare, Amanpreet Singh, Vijay Kumar, Pemba Tamang, Gurpreet Singh, Mahender Singh, Samaresh Jung, Zakir Khan and Omkar Singh.

Women: Rifle: Tejaswini Sawant, Lajja Gauswami, Meena Kumar, Birmati, Priya Aggarwal, Neha Sapte and Ayonika Paul.

Pistol: Anisa Sayeed, Annuraj Singh, Rahi Sarnobat, Shweta Chaudhary and Pushpanjali Rana.

Shotgun: Men: Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Birnedeep Sodhi, Anirudh Singh, Vikram Bhatnagar, Mohammed Asab, Ajay Mittal, Mairaj Ahmed Khan, Arozepal Singh and P. P. Singh.

Women: Shagun Chowdhary, Seema Tomar, Shreyasi Singh, Arti Singh and Rashmee Rathore.

Coming soon: 6-lane road under IGI runway

By October, you could be driving through an underground tunnel below IGI Airport's main runway -- with planes landing and taking off on top -- to speed away to the new domestic-cum-international terminal (T3) that will start opening in three months from now.

Worried that the existing single approach to the T3 site, next to the existing international terminal, will become a traffic nightmare once almost all domestic and entire foreign passengers drive to and from there, the government wants the new link ready in time for the Commonwealth Games that start from October 3.

The plan is to have the new road from Dwarka roundabout's lane towards Mehramnagar turn (near the existing domestic airport), take it under the main runway and then connect it to a link road that will lead to T3. Currently, this one-way link road is used by people coming from the international airport to drive to Vasant Kunj from under the Radisson flyover.

"The six-lane new link will be about 1.5km long with the tunnel portion under the runway being 343 metres. The total cost will be about Rs 65 crore. The plan is that Delhi government will fund the project that would be implemented by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and maintained by the Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL)," a source said.

This proposal is learnt to have been taken up at a recent joint meeting of all stakeholders like aviation ministry, Delhi government, AAI, DGCA and DDA and chaired by the cabinet secretary. "All security issues related to a road running under an operational runway and airport have been taken care of," said a highly placed source.

As per the plan, work on the tunnel portion should start and be completed when the main runway is closed for recarpeting from March to September. That time only the newest airstrip (Shiv Murti side) and shortest one (near Dwarka) will be used. "The tunnel is proposed to pass almost at the end of the runway near the jumbo point," the source added.

This runway-tunnel plan had to be drawn up as the original proposal to have an underground link from a point in the U-shaped part of NH 8 that goes up to Radisson ran into trouble with the private Gurgaon Expressway concessionaire. One plan was to have a road from near the base of the flyover -- that has clover leaves going towards the domestic airport and Dwarka on one side, and Gurgaon and the international airport on the other -- and then have an underground link to connect it to a road leading to T3.

The other was to have a tunnel near the Radisson flyover to link it across the road airport side.

"But the concessionaire protested, saying this would lead to `toll leak' as motorists would drive on part of their facility and get off before paying any toll at the toll gate on the approach road to the international terminal," said sources.

Since the compensation being sought for this alleged toll leakage was too high, the government decided to work out alternate plans that led to the first of its kind runway-tunnel idea. Connectivity to T3 is being monitored at the highest level by the cabinet secretariat. At present, domestic passengers drive towards Dwarka roundabout from the new flyover (made famous by its long wait for inauguration by a VVIP). International passengers drive down towards the NH 8 portion that leads to Gurgaon and international airport from the Radisson flyover after clearing the toll plazas at both approaches.

Once T3 is ready, almost all domestic airlines will shift there -- barring a few budget carriers that will operate from 1D terminal at the current domestic airport side. "In view of the rush of traffic coming to and from the international terminal, the sole approach road of NH 8 to T3 is going to become a major bottleneck. To avoid that, this plan has been conceived and a new link must be operational before Commonwealth Games begin. Having a clear approach to the new terminal is as important as the new facility itself," a source said.

In fact, this runway-tunnel link is in addition to the bigger plan of having another link road to T3 from Dwarka side that is supposed to be ready in two to three years. Recently, aviation minister Praful Patel met Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit to stress on the need for multiple approaches to T3.

"The national facilitation committee headed by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar is going to meet on January 14 and the issue of access to T3 is likely to come up there in a big way. Delhi government had some reservations about funding this link as they considered it an internal airport road. All these issues will have to be sorted out at the earliest," an official said.

Aussies reaffirm our efforts

A Happy and a Sporting New Year to you. The Year of the Games is here. One of the first things we have heard is the fact that Australia would send its largest contingent to the XIX Commonwealth Games. There could not have been a more powerful affirmation of the fact that we are on track to hosting the largest and the best Games.

Coming on the heels of the good reports in the wake of the visits by the Commonwealth Games Federation’s CoCom and its president Mike Fennell last month, I was delighted to hear that Australian Commonwealth Games Association’s chief executive Mr. Perry Crosswhite had stated that his nation will send its largest contingent to a Games overseas, topping the 371, sent to Manchester in 2002.

Similar news has emanated from London. I believe that with the British Government investing a lot in training athletes for the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the contingents from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also be larger than in the past.

With a Games Village that will be better than the ones in Melbourne and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, with world class sports infrastructure coming up in Delhi and with our traditional hospitality being a big draw, we know we will be able to set new benchmarks, not the least being the huge number of athletes who compete in Delhi.

I am heartened by statements from the British Foreign Office and CWG England that rejected a newspaper report that British teams were mulling a pull out from Delhi 2010. I must reiterate that under the Home Ministry’s supervision, those charged with the task of providing security for the Games family — and that includes the spectators — have assured us of their best.

The Government has approved state-of-the-art Integrated Security System for the CWG at an estimated cost of Rs. 370 crore and the International Security Liaison Group, formed by the Home Ministry, has kept channels of communication with security experts from all nations and territories. Our security team has convinced each of these delegations that it would leave no stone unturned to provide the tightest security.

While my colleagues in the Organising Committee and everyone concerned with the conduct of the Games know we have work to do in the months ahead, I cannot but smile in the knowledge that we have done enough already to make many concede that Delhi would be better than Melbourne in quite a few ways. And, I know you, dear fan of Indian sport, will contribute towards that.

After Commonwealth Games, tax waiver for hockey?

Hockey may be our national game, but when it comes to importance, it usually takes a backseat to cricket.

Hockey India representatives may be realising it all over again and hence, are demanding facilities like waiving of entertainment tax and luxury tax on hotels rooms to be booked for championship delegates, dedicated air-conditioned buses to ferry the athletes and delegates from the venue and practice venues.

But the government officials seem less than keen to meet the requirements and are citing cost as a reason.

Delhi will play host to the Men’s Hockey World Cup between February 28 and March 13. And in an assertive stand before the event,

Hockey India is demanding benefits equal to those being extended to Commonwealth Games delegates. The event will see participation from 12 sporting nations.

Hockey India team met Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta in this connection to put forward their demands.

“They are demanding 15 AC buses for the duration of the championship and preceding that. One AC bus earns revenue of at least Rs 10,000 per day. Also, waiving luxury and entertainment tax would dent the exchequer further,” said a senior Delhi government official, requesting anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The government, in a cabinet meeting on Monday, waived luxury tax on hotel rooms booked by the Commonwealth Games 2010 Organising Committee for its athletes, delegates, sport physicians and international media persons. This is a waiver of Rs 30 crore and has been stipulated under the terms and conditions of the Commonwealth Games contract.

The officials now say that the decision on whether to accord similar relaxation in taxes and facilities for the forthcoming hockey championship has been left to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Willie Wood sets his sights on 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi

Others may be running scared of the Commonwealth Games but Willie Wood, 71 but "feeling 30 years younger", will be straining every sinew over the coming days, and - he hopes - weeks, at the World Indoor Championships in an effort to secure his place in the Scotland team for Delhi.

If selected it will be his eighth Commonwealth Games and, extraordinarily, it should have been his 10th.

While the rest of the shivering country huddles around stoked fires for comfort, Wood will be strutting his stuff at the Potters Leisure centre at Hopton-on-Sea on the freezing Norfolk coast where the bowls clans have gathered for their annual get-together.

A unique sporting occasion this, with players, officials and fans all staying in some comfort on site, moving seamlessly from their comfortable chalets to the lively bars, sumptuous restaurants and the enticing Palms Health Spa and to the splendid indoor bowls complex. And then back via the same route at the end of the day. Bowls utopia.

The presence of Wood, who starts his singles campaign on Thursday morning against South Africa's Theuns Fraser, will certainly add a little spice to proceedings. Wood was elected to the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, which is usually a pretty surefire sign that people are thinking of you, or at least your competitive career, in the past tense.

Wood, who first represented Scotland at bowls in 1966, begs to differ and has come through seven tough qualifying rounds to take his place. He also rose at 3am to dig his way out of the snow at his Edinburgh home to make the car journey through the snowy wastes of the Borders to arrive early and start practising.

This is a man on a mission, a Saga pin-up in a sport that is increasingly becoming a young man's game as it seeks to shed its former image.

Already he has made it into Scotland's final Commonwealth Games selection squad of seven, from whom just one of those will be cut at the end of the month. Woods is determined to be on the plane to India in October. A useful showing at Hopton-on-Sea would just about clinch the issue.

After the heroics of Tom Watson at the Open in July we should not be surprised at anything our more senior sportsmen achieve. The golf-loving Wood certainly drew inspiration from Turnberry.

As for the Commonwealth Games, Wood is undeterred by talk of terrorist threats: "I would have no hesitation going to Delhi. You can find yourself in bother anywhere in the world these days, why single Delhi out? You wouldn't say London is the safest of places either, would you? Whatever will be, will be."

Wood started his Commonwealth Games career in Christchurch in 1974 and went on to Edmonton and Brisbane before a dispute with the Scottish Bowls Association, which ruled him a professional, prevented him playing in Edinburgh in 1986.

He was back in the fold for Auckland in 1990, Victoria four years later, Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and, for his final appearance thus far, Manchester in 2002. One singles gold medal and gold in the fours were the pinnacles of his achievement, while during that time he also finished runner-up in the world championships twice and helped Scotland to three triples gold medals.

There was controversy again in 2006 when he was selected for Melbourne but withdrew insisting that the greens were not up to scratch. There is a strong perfectionist trait within him.

"I love it indoors these days, not just because it is warmer and more comfortable, but because you get a true run of the bowl," he said. "Outdoors these days the condition of the greens is getting poorer and poorer, the standard of horticulture deteriorating.

"I don't really think of being 71 you know. I have never stopped playing since I took the game up as boy. I was brought up in a small village and the bowls club was the only thing to do. All my family before me were good players, it was in the blood.

"I don't do anything special to keep fit, I just keep playing I was playing for 10 hours the other day. I've had a bit of knee trouble recently but some acupuncture seems to have sorted that out. As it happens I'm playing very well just now, very happy with my game. I don't really notice much difference from years ago. I might need reading glasses away from the greens but I don't use glasses when I'm playing, I still trust my eyes.

"What have I learnt over the years? That bowls may look relaxed and therapeutic but it can be as frustrating as any game I know. There is a lot of skill involved and over a long period skilful players will prevail, but there's also a fair bit of luck.

Sometimes you are not rewarded enough for good play, sometimes you can profit too much from a lucky shot. You have to come to terms with that, it's part of the game."

CWG priority, not thinking about Olympic bidding: Kalmadi

Bringing Olympic Games to India is Suresh Kalmadi's long-cherished dream but the IOA chief said his priority right now is to ensure that this year's Commonwealth Games proves a success.

"I don't want to talk about this issue now. Let us first make the CWG a huge success, then only we can think about bidding for Olympics," Kalmadi told PTI.

The Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee said he would love to see Olympics in India and was of the view that the Commonwealth Games would put the capital five years ahead in terms of infrastructure and sports facilities.

"As far as infrastructure and development is concerned, Delhi will move ahead by five years because of Commonwealth Games. It includes metro, airport terminal, roads and games venues. It will be a lasting legacy. Games will bring development and Delhi will become a hot tourist destination," said the Indian Olympic Association president.

Asked if that would strengthen India's Olympic bid, Kalmadi said, "I would not like to comment on that now. I am focussing on CWG only."

Kalmadi said that capital was all geared up to welcome visitors during the Games.

"There are enough hotel rooms. We have bread-and-breakfast scheme apart from 3000 DDA flats. We are also going to have tent cities in Delhi government and defence land," he said.

CWG chairman Suresh Kalmadi tops SportzPower List 2009

Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi has catapulted to the top position in the SportzPower List 2009, while the once-powerful Lalit Modi and number one in 2008 has dropped to fifth position.

Union Sports Minister MS Gill has dropped two spots in 2009 and is placed at the 4th position and has been replaced by former BCCI president Sharad Pawar in the second position.

The rankings have been compiled by SportzPower, a media brand covering the various aspects related to the business and management of sports. The SportzPower each year comes out with an annual ranking of the top influencers and performers in the world of Indian sports.

While third place is occupied by Sahara chief Subroto Roy, the owner of Formula One team Force India and IPL franchise Royal Challengers, liquor baron Vijay Mallya makes his appearance at seventh spot, followed by the country's three top cricketers captain MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

The Top 10 is completed by IOA General Secretary Randhir Singh, another important factor in the CWG 2010 extravaganza.

A good year sees badminton star Saina Nehwal, golfers Gagan Bhullar, Jeev Milkha Singh, C Muniyappa, tennis veteran Leander Paes and boxer Vijender Singh mark their spots, while Gautam Gambhir, Pankaj Advani, upcoming boxer Suranjoy Singh, badminton duo V Diju and Jwala Gutta complete the list.