Commonwealth Games 2010: A Debacle Already
The Commonwealth Games is an international event held every four years, featuring multiple sports events and competitions with thousands of choice athletes who are members of the Commonwealth of Nations (a membership organization of fifty-four independent
states). This event is organized and overseen by the CGF (Commonwealth Games Federation) which controls the sports activities and chooses host cities.
This year, the nineteenth Commonwealth Games 2010 will be held in New Delhi, India, for the first time in the history of the event. The event will be held between 3 October and 14 October 2010. This is also the second time that the event is being held in
Asia, after 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A Commonwealth Games Village 2010 has been set up in New Delhi as residence for the athletes, according to tradition.
This is the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in India, but unfortunately enough, it seems to have already turned into a disaster. The event’s preparations are still underway, and the area has already been hit by multiple shocks: bad weather, faulty
construction leading to collapses and disparagement of the facilities and village set-up. Some of the most popular athletes,in the world such tennis professional British Number 1 Elena Baltacha and many others, have pulled out of this event due to a combination
of these reasons.
There are many concerns over the decision to host the event in India. For one, the Commonwealth Games organizational team has been blamed with corruption, due to delays in construction and preparation of the event and village for the athletes. These delays
have resulted in doubts about the efficiency and capability of the host city.
Another major concern is security and terrorism. Apprehension over this issue began with the Jama Masjid incident on 19 September 2010, where two gunmen opened fire outside a mosque injuring two Taiwanese tourists. To test this concern, an Australian TV
crew from Seven Network arranged a dummy bomb and detonator in a suitcase and walked past security holding it. They were not caught, leading to further outbursts about the mismanagement and dangerous circumstances in which the games were being held.
Living conditions have been described as “filthy and unliveable” by multiple media companies, resulting in more dropouts and severe criticism on an international level. This ties in directly with corruption, since speculations have been rife over financial
fraud on part of the organisational committee; consequently, T S Darbari (joint director) and Sanjay Mahendroo (deputy director general) from this committee have been suspended. Treasurer Anil Khanna resigned after allegations of fraud over laying synthetic
courts in a tennis stadium.
To add to this plethora of problems, the construction of the village seems to be slipshod and unprofessional, not to mention downright dangerous. Late this month on 21 September, a pedestrian footbridge collapsed at the village, seriously injuring at least
five people and inflicting some amount of damage to 27 others. One day later, a false ceiling at a stadium collapsed, reportedly causing no injury.
Three days ago, the Telegraph UK showed pictures of children around ten years old working at the games site as manpower, resulting in allegations of abuse and child labour. Other problems include a possible outbreak of dengue, poor quality of work and unfit
companies being awarded contracts. The city seems to be completely uninvolved in the tournament, with several people relocating to different parts of the country due to the unavoidable crowdedness the city is bound to experience. There are multiple allegations
of items being sold for a greater price than it would take to buy them, suggesting money funnelling.
The tournament itself is still days away, and it is already turning into a calamity. Players are dropping out, conditions keep deteriorating and the publicity for the event is as negative as possible. It is irresponsible on the Commonwealth Games Federation’s
part to hand over the undertaking of such a prestigious event to an obviously incapable host. The 2010 Commonwealth Games are fated to be an embarrassment for both the CGF and India itself.
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