Torrential rains, Corruption scandals, Security fears; DELHI 2010 Commonwealth Games in deep trouble
The ongoing preparations for DELHI 2010 Commonwealth Games seem to have hit a major roadblock as torrential rains, corruption scandals and security fears, all at a time, are bent on rocking the much-awaited event.
The weather in India at present is not the best it has been most of the time; torrential monsoon rains have been lashing the country. The organizers of the Games are already behind schedule in trying to get the 17 competition venues ready for the 17 Commonwealth sporting events while these torrential rains are further aggravating the situation by affecting the pace of finishing works at these venues. This is happening at a time when less than 44 days remain in the games’ opening ceremony. The president of the Commonwealth Games Federation Mike Fennell during his recent visit to India said in statement, “All venues are in practical terms complete, but there still remains a large amount of finishing works, including the cleaning and landscaping of the sites to enable them to be presented at their best. These works must be done with great urgency. The image of the Games and that of the stakeholders will be determined by the appearance of the venues.”
On the other hand, the Games’ Organizing Committee also has been recently hit by allegations of massive corruption and mismanagement of funds. Fennell, commenting on these allegations, said “There has been a lot of reporting of alleged corruption, and this is of great concern to us at the Federation and all involved. We have made it very clear that the Indian authorities need to investigate all such claims and, where appropriate, bring down the full force of the Indian law.” With corruption allegations widespread in the lead up to the Games, two major sponsors of the event have pulled out. They include India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) And the PowerGrid; both have decided to hold back Rs. 400 million worth of their sponsorship money. NTPC has also demanded a full audit of the Rs. 200 million it has already provided to the organizers. The Indian Railways, which had previously pledged Rs. 1 billion, is also now on the back foot saying that it wants to make a full review of the Games expenditures before committing the money.
All this is in addition to the Commonwealth member countries’ previous concerns regarding the security situation in India. There are fears also backed by intelligence reports that terrorists could strike at the Games. Dawn Fraser, the former Australian swimming legend has advised the Australian athletes to boycott the event on account of these fears. She told the media that the world doesn’t need another massacre on the scale of 1972’s Munich Olympics. However, the Commonwealth Games Federation’s President Fennel and the Australian Commonwealth Games Association head Sam Coffa have dismissed Fraser’s fears saying that security is top notch in the country.
It looks as if the 3rd -14th October Commonwealth Games are in deep trouble. However, the sports-lovers will have to sit back and wait in order to see what turns out in the end and also whether India will be actually able to host one of the biggest sporting events in its history. With the way things are running at the moment it seems a bit difficult but one needs to always remain optimistic.
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