Commonwealth Games 2010 venues remain devoid of spectators
After a house full at the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee expected a good sell of the tickets for the competitions. However, the average sell out of almost all the tournaments was not more than 10-20 percent on the first day of the Commonwealth
Games, and the trend continued on the second day as well.
The venues of netball and hockey were particularly empty on the first day of the mega event. The Thyagaraj Sports Complex, where the netball matches were taking place and has a capacity to comfortably hold 4500 spectators, barely had 58 fans cheering the
athletes. The second day still in progression is also not witnessing a good turnout of spectators. If Indian locals did not show up at the netball events, it was understandable because the sport is not very popular in the region and larger Commonwealth nations
like Australia and New Zealand have established their worth in the sport. Meanwhile, it was expected that fans and spectators will come to cheer their favourite athletes at the shooting events scheduled on Tuesday, the second day of the Delhi Games. India
is one of the standing powers in the gun sports.
The shooting events started at 9 am Indian Standard Time, and the 500 capacity for the spectators was almost completely devoid of any. The events included the three pistol and rifle shooting competitions at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi.
The contenders of the event were some of the most fancied shooters nowadays. Abhinav Bindra, India’s athlete who won the gold medal at the shooting events in the Beijing Olympics was also part of the competition today along with the world record setter Gagan
Narang.
The sports analysts working for the local newspapers were of the view that a huge coward would come to see the shooting events, since some of the best local athletes were the competitors. And thus, traffic police was deployed around the area of the venue
to regulate traffic and help people seeking for directions for the event. However, things did not turn out as expected and the security and media persons stood outside the venue idly since barely anyone came to witness the world and Olympic champions play.
Australia and India are the only strong contenders of the gold medals at the shooting events. The winners were to be announced the same day and the medals handed over. The most interesting encounter in the shooting events will be that of Australia’s Linda
Ryan and India’s Lalita Yauhleuskaya in the 25 metre pistol shooting.
The venue of the squash tournaments, Siri Fort Sports Complex, with a capacity of 3500 people, also had very few fans attending the singles matches on the first day of the Games.
The Organizing Committee and India have constantly been in headlines for about the past two months due to the problems that do not seem to end regarding the venues of the Games Village. After a successful opening ceremony the organizers took a sigh of relief
and thought that the eleven day event will be also be as successful as the opening ceremony. Having put up colourful banners and posters to advertise and promote the Delhi Games, the organizers were expecting the local Indian nationals to come to the venues.
Even though, the prices of the tickets for the competitions have been kept affordable to encourage the people to come and cheer their favourite athletes but majority opted to stay at home and watch the contests on their television sets. The Organizing Committee
has still not lost hope, as the officials say that it was just the first day and the Games are on their way to gain popularity in India. India is a nation obsessed with cricket, and so the disciplines in the Games do not appeal to them much, except where Pakistan
and India encounter each other.
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