For a great step forward

After months of tension and controversies, CWG is all set to begin. The arrangements made for the games are now widely appreciated. Opening ceremony showcased the vivid culture of India colourfully. Now the arena is taken up by its people-the contingents. With over 6000 athletes from 71 countries, this Games is the biggest one in the history of Commonwealth games.

The games was struck with the withdrawal of several star athletes. But now along with a good number of international stars, Indian team is lining up a number of world class sportsperson. This time India is hoping more and is aiming for its best result so far in any of the International competitions.India finished fourth in the last edition (Melbourne 2006) and third in Manchester (2002). This time with the home advantage, with wide support of fans and mostly with the talented young competitors, India is hoping to finish second in the medals tally. Ahead of the Asian Games this November and the 2012 Olympics, this is a golden opportunity to take a step towards those bigger stages and bigger dreams.

One of the biggest hopes is in badminton. With world No.2 Saina Nehwal and world No.6, Diju-Jwala Gutta mixed-doubles pair, it is not just a dream. The Badminton event, without China, but with Malaysia, Singapore and England, is not lacking good competition. Indian should fight hard to keep the hopes live. Chetan Anand is also hopeful in men’s singles. Tennis is another event which India has taken as favorites. In this newly added event at CWG, Indians are top seeded. Paes-Bhupati doubles pair, Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza are India's main contingents. With their super performance recently, Indian team may dominate the Tennis.

Boxing and Wrestling are also events where India line-up some gold bidders. With five time World champion, Mary Kom, in women’s boxing and Olympic medal winner, Vijender Singh along with Akhil Kumar in men’s event, it is not a dream which never comes true. Wrestling team, headed by World Champion, Sushiel Kumar is also ready to pick a number of medals from the ring.

The events which India bagged a number of medals last time was shooting and weight lifting. This time in Shooting it is stronger team. Olympic Gold winner, Abhinav Bindra, Samresh Jung, Gagan Narang, etc, are aiming another gold hunt at home. Weight lifting team is also aiming the same.

In Table Tennis and Squash, it will be good competition. There also India has a good squad. Sharath Kamal, last time gold winner in TT is set for another this time. In Squash, Saurav Goshal, Joshna Chinnappa and Deepika are hoping to grab at least three medals. In Archery, India may be able to take medals with Dola Banerjee as the big name. In swimming events, where Australia and England dominates India's chances are rare.

In team events, the best hope is in Hockey. Men Hockey team, with their recent setbacks in World cup and Olympics qualifiers, will have to fight hard to grab a medal, in an event where big names like Australia, England, NZL, Pakistan and South Africa take part. In women section, India is a favorite for the medal.

At last, the most important event, Athletics. Here it is a good competition with a number of African, European and Caribbean athletes. India's main hopes are Tintu Luka, Mayookha Johnny, Ranjith and Krishna Puniya. As India's performance in track events is not much better in CWG, this time also it will be hard to grab gold from the track.

Indian team's dream of the second spot is not a milestone which cannot be achieved. India has the resource for it. With the wide support of home crowd, it can be achieved. And let it be a foundation and inspiration for the bigger events. For a better tomorrow, a great step forward. Good Luck India....

Commonwealth Games-Will the medals worth?

Organizing a mega sports event, is a chance for the host nations to showcase its tradition and culture and express their hospitality to the world. Moreover such events contribute to the development of sports in that country. But when it comes to India’s case it becomes just another chance for corruption, wastage and dirty politics. The 2010 Commonwealth Games is to be held in Delhi this October. With one month left to start the games Delhi is struggling to finish the works of the stadia and other infrastructure. Last month reports of wide scam in the works came out. Large amount of public money has been wasted by misuse and the expense shot up because of lack of proper management. Thousands of crores has been spent over various projects so far. Some venues which completed work, is reported for lack in quality. The main venue, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was renovated at a cost of Rs.961 crore (It is to be noted that, the Gachibowli stadium was newly constructed for almost 21 crores, for the Afro-Asian games in 2003). Like this for almost every project, huge amount more than needed was spent, and is still struggling to finish before timeline and is lacking quality. The Organizers are also widely criticized for the eviction of thousands of poor people for making space.

Development of the country’s sports structure is the main task of mega events. And how far India is prepared to utilize the games in that way? CWG is participated by member countries of British Commonwealth. Here only some events are having world class quality in competition. The main attraction of a multi game event is athletics. At CWG it is having good quality. But India is very poor in athletics according to CWG level. India doesn’t have a world class athlete to show up as a torchbearer. When China hosted Olympic Games, they had world champion Liu Xiang, to showcase. India’s performance in previous CWG events was mainly in shooting and weight lifting. Both items are less competitive in this event compared to Asian Games and Olympics.Delhi games also miss star athletes like Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, etc. The unfinished stadia, games village and other infrastructures, wide corruption, blame game and the withdrawal of star athletes has put the game under shadow, before it starts. And if it fails to provide any development to the country’s sports structure, then the tax payers money is entirely wasted for a mock. In 2003, crores were spent for Afro-Asian games and it was an utter failure, both in competition and success. South Africa, Qatar, Japan, Korea, China all gained from the events they hosted. They were able to improve their sports structure and were able to carry over it to more big events.

This large sum of money, if efficiently utilized for the development of sports in the country will gain good results in the future. If there is a well planned program with this resources, India will surely become the giants in world sports. We are having talented youth. All they need is good support and good infrastructure. We just need efficient utilization of resources. For that, sports administrators should be sports lovers, rather than money loving politicians. Otherwise these events produce nothing and will be another burden over the poor tax payer.