Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010: Sales of Tickets Likely To Go Up, Kalmadi Claims
New Delhi – after almost half of the event is over at Delhi Commonwealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the organizing committee claimed before a news conference that the sales of the tickets were surging with each passing day. However, he did not
provide any reason for the empty stadiums which were observed even during some of the sports which were considered to be favourite among the local spectators.
“We have dwelled upon the matter rather seriously and in result of the efforts made on part of the organizing committee, the sales of the tickets have started going up which has resulted in filling in the stadiums during many events” said the chairman
while addressing the media personnel. He further said that as Indian athletes were performing well in the event, interest of the spectators was also going up.
“With the expectation for India to bag more medals, the crowd would possibly pour in,” he said further.
While sharing his observation, the chairman told the media that in sports like rugby, boxing and swimming where Indian athletes performed well during the Beijing Olympics were particularly attracting a good amount of crowd. While addressing to the conference,
he said that 1.5 lakh tickets were sold only on the previous day; all the tickets for rugby, badminton and boxing were also sold. He further claimed that eighty percent of the tickets for the disciplines like tennis and swimming had also been sold out.
The claims from the chairman of the organizing committee, Mr. Kalmadi were rather perceived to be baseless by the media personnel as much appreciated Abhinay Bindra and the admired and hot favourite among the locals, Sania Mirza too performed before the
empty seats of the stadiums. The response from the Commonwealth Games President Mike Fennel was rather opposite to that of the Kalmadi, as he showed his concerns over the poor turnout of the spectators for almost all of the sports competitions.
While remonstrating the poor turnout from the spectators, Mike Fennel said that he was rather concerned with the matter and was putting all his effort on part of the Commonwealth Games administration to ensure the work on the matter. While giving his views
over the incidents where the gold medals were given away to the winners with no spectators in the stadium, fennel explained that there were some logistical problems involved.
“Absence of the crowd has been a constant problem for us during the last few events, however, this is quite normal as I have witnessed somewhat same response for some sports even during the Beijing Olympics” said the president.
He further added that he too was of the view that to encourage the participants and winners, at least the medal ceremony should be held before the reasonably large number of audience. He lamented that it was a matter of concern for his team however; it was
also dependent upon the availability of the athletes.
Sanjeev Mittal, the Joint Director General of the OC, who was also present at the press conference held security arrangements and transportation matters responsible for the low response from the spectators. However, he too insisted that despite of all such
potential hazards, the sales of the tickets were increasing. He said that despite of strict security arrangements, it seemed, viewers had decided to show up in the stadiums and that was an encouraging sign for them.
Addressing a somewhat different question, Suresh Kalmadi, who also happened to be the chief of Indian Olympic Association, admitted that in order to encourage the Indian contenders, it was important to address their financial constraints. For this, he announced
that the Indian gold medal winners would be provided with cash money as a token of appreciation. The media personnel were of the view that that step would help improving not only the performance of the Indian contenders during the Games, but it would also
boost up the response from the Indian spectators.
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