The Delhi Commonwealth Games begin this weekend on Sunday… It is actually a HUGE weekend for sports! We’ve also got the re-play of the AFL grand final and also the NRL grand final. Sport fans will be glued to the tele this weekend.
Back to the Commonwealth games. This year’s games have garnered a lot of negativity from the press in its lead up with safety concerns, infrastructural issues, hygiene in the athletes’ village… Building projects were behind schedule with many facilities still incomplete with only days until the Commonwealth games begin. An estimate of $3.16 billion was spent on this event and India hoped to overshadow China’s brilliant Olympic game. They haven’t made such an impressive start.
There were so many issues with the athlete’s village, they found a snake in there this week and the condition of some rooms were horribly unhygienic. Some countries stated that this accommodation were ‘uninhabitable’ so they organised their own accommodation. Some of the better rooms were shown on TV and they were ok, quite standard rooms, it looked like a three star hotel accommodation. It had all the basic requirements, nothing flash. Organisers made a reference to the ‘cleanliness’ reports and stated that 60-70% of the residences were completed and everything else would be finished in the next 36 hours. A large team of cleaners were sent in the village to make the place sparkly clean.
The athletes have started arriving this week, yesterday the Aussie swim team landed in India. They looked really happy at the airport, because of that I’ve started to feel some enthusiasm about these games. Prior to that, there were so many concerns and issues about these games that it was hard to get behind it.
Security fears has resulted in many high profile athletes making the tough decision of pulling out of these games. I can’t imagine how hard that decision would be: it takes years of preparation, training for these major sporting events, then they have to qualify for the national team, when they make the team it is their goal to do themselves and their country proud at the games. Some prominent Aussie athletes won’t be competing, I wonder if they will still watch the games or would it be too difficult for them to. I don’t know if they would think, I wish I could be there competing too.
DFAT (Dpt. Of Foreign Affairs) has issued the new warning of security of at the Games, saying terrorist attacks could happen at any time with little or no warning. Indian authorities are on high alert and they aim to provide a safe games for the everyone at the games.
The opening ceremony will air this Sunday, and it is a huge opportunity for India to showcase their culture to the world. Unlike the build up to the games, I hope this runs smoothly with no bumps in the road. The opening ceremony is so important because it inspires the athletes and gets everyone excited about the games. I wonder what they have up their sleeve, will the event be as epic as China’s Olympic opening ceremony? China’s opening and closing ceremony were brilliant. You can’t describe it any other way, it was truly brilliant.
I hope the Dehli Commonwealth games are safe and runs smoothly for everyone.
Of course I hope the Aussies dominate on the medals tally. Australia usually does since, America and China are not part of the Commonwealth lol.
Ref: News.com.au, abc news
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