Athletes show potential at Commonwealth Games under tight security
After the dazzling opening ceremony of Delhi Commonwealth Games at Delhi- India, athletes are now set to start competing for medals.
There are 17 different disciplines, 5000 athletes from 71 different countries, competing for medals during next 11 days. Out of these 5000 gold medals, 8 would be awarded today for the sports like gymnastics (1 medal), weightlifting (2 medals), and 5 for
swimming.
Rebecca Adlington, the English swimmer, who had made it to her gold in Beijing Olympics 2008, would be looking forward to add another to her name today.
As it has always been, the trio of England, Australia and Canada are expected to grab most of the medals during this event as well. Team India, which also happens to be the host of the event is expected to secure at least fourth position, which it held during
the Commonwealth Games held at Melbourne and then at Manchester.
Abhinay Bindra, the man who earned a gold medal for India at the Beijing Olympics and who also carried the flag and led the contingent of India at the inaugurating ceremony would try his best to take advantage of the home turf and secure a gold medal at
Commonwealth as well.
On Sunday evening, October 03, when under the lights of fireworks and during the beats of drums and dancers the opening ceremony was held at Delhi Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, besides celebrating the presence of athletes from 71 countries, presence of some
of the most renowned athletes was badly missed. The reasons for this absence varied greatly.
Some of the athletes avoided attending the games owing to the much discussed controversy of the health and security arrangements made at Delhi, while others like Usain Bolt the sprint superstar from Jamaica would be missing the event due to his lower back
problem. Another much awaited star, Caster Semenya from South Africa, who is world champion for 800 meters would also be unable to attend the event due to the injury she has been suffering from.
Another major reason for many of the athletes not attending the event was that they had to rest and recover before entering into the fields. The athletes, who chose to miss out the event for not being fully prepared to compete, are Asafa Powell, the former
sprinter and World record holder, the distance runner Mo Farah, and pentathlete, Jessica Ennis.
Still others, who have decided not to attend the 19th Commonwealth games, being held at Delhi had personal reasons. Interestingly, some of the players revealed their reasons on Twitter and other social networking websites.
The former English triple jump Olympic medal winner shared with his fans on Twitter, that he did not visit Delhi for security concerns. Similarly, Khotso Mokoena, the South African long jumper was declared fit by the medical teams to participate in the event
but he refused doing so without giving any reasons.
The athletes hailing from the European countries gave extra emphasis to the security concerns. Though Delhi has deployed 100,000 professionally trained security officials to guard the participants, Australia’s contingent is being guarded by a private security
company.
The Australian team would also remain under the supervision of the Australian federal police officials, who have come along to ensure the security of the team. The security forces deployed by the Delhi administration would not only guard the venues for all
sites where the games would be held, they would also be forming protection circles around the grounds and stadiums where sports like squash and rugby would be played.
The organizers at Delhi are now hoping for sports and games related news to hit the print and electronic media for the next two weeks and for no further security lapses. New Delhi’s organisational skills will be put to the test and evaluated by the World
at the end of the Commonwealth Games 2010.
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