Friday, July 25, 2008

TT coach focusses on 2010 Commonwealth Games

New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) With a medal at Olympics still a distant dream for Indian table tennis, the team's Belarussian coach Aleksey Yefremov has focussed his energies on preparing the paddlers for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held here.Yefremov said he would leave no stone unturned to achieve the target of coming up with the best performance at the Delhi Commonwealth Games."My priority is to prepare ourselves to put up a good performance in the Commonwealth Games, which will be hosted in the Indian capital in 2010. We are working very hard to achieve our target," he said.The foreign coach, who was appointed after being recommended by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) earlier this year, strongly believes that more international outings would sharpen skills of Indian paddlers."To perform well in the international arena, we have to play much more international matches, which, I think, will help our paddlers to know about different types of players and their techniques all over the world. These will certainly add to their experience."Domestic tournaments are good, but internationals are important as well. Table tennis is not a game of reflex only, but of experience also," Yefremov insisted.The coach believes the same formula applies to India's Olympics preparations also and said more international matches should be arranged for the two Beijing-bound paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal and Neha Aggarwal."Both of them are highly talented and could change many calculations on their day as a lot depends on how a player is performing on a particular day or the moment.
Source: http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/7FFC7F4BC59B8A896525748D002FF3A9?OpenDocument

Don't expect miracle at Olympics: Kalmadi

NEW DELHI, July 21: Choosing not to make false promises to the nation just a fortnight before the Olympic Games, Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi has categorically said that sports lovers of the country should not expect any miracle in China. "Our senior team was the runners up in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and the juniors have won the Asia Cup just a few days back. We have to now sit up and make the roadmap for hockey," he said. "Things are otherwise also moving well in Indian sports but don't expect too many medals in China," said Kalmadi at the book release of 'Olympics: The India Story' by Boria Majumdar and Nalin Mehta last night. "Archers and shooters are looking in good stead though," he said. Kalmadi said the IOA was focussing on the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi in 2010 after which 2012 London Olympics would be the target for India. "The Government has sanctioned Rs 700 crore for the 2010 Commonwealth Games which will be used on 310 days of training of athletes. We have to ensure good Games in 2010 in Delhi which will form a base for our performance in the London Olympics. "We've to be at least second in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi after which we will charge up for London," he added. Kalmadi also appealed to the corporates to come forward and support the Olympic sports instead of going gaga over cricket to realise India's Olympic dream. "The industries should come forward. They don't realise that even one gold medal in Olympics will give them so much mileage," he said. Kalmadi said it was the time to make a roadmap for Indian hockey as the senior and junior teams were doing extremely well. IOA General Secretary Randhir Singh also echoed Kalmadi's sentiments and said cricket hogs all the limelight while it was time that corporates concentrate on the Olympic disciplines. "We are far behind in the Olympic disciplines, the kind of money that's needed is not there as cricket hogs all the limelight," Randhir said. "But we will introduce a value education programme like China and other countries when International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogges arrives in Pune during the Commonwealth Youth Games in October," he said.
Source: http://sports.indiatimes.com/Dont_expect_miracle_in_China/articleshow/3264210.cms

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Mark gets set for Games

OLYMPIC and Commonwealth Games clay target shooting champion Russell Mark is in the twilight of a 22-year international career.
The 1996 Olympic double trap gold medallist and 2006 Comonwealth Games champion is in Darwin this week to prepare for what is likely to be his last Olympics in Beijing.The 44-year-old from the Victorian city of Ballarat was also world champion in 1994 and '97 and part of Australia's world title wins in 1998 and '99. Now an executive board member of the Australian Olympic committee and the Australian Shooting Association, Mark's views on the sport he has given the best part of his life to are widely sought.Unlucky not to compete for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics when the barrel of his shotgun exploded while leading comfortably in qualifying, Mark has fought his way back into the national team through a combination of class and experience.A regular visitor to the Top End, Mark says Marrara shooting complex is the only place for his team to be three weeks out from the Games."The machinery is identical and the only place in Australia where it is fully operational and the great weather lends itself to intensive training,'' Mark said.Asked if the individual gold medals were career highlights, he pointed to the world team's event win at Barcelona in 1998 as the best moment he had in shooting."I got more enjoyment out of that than any other event because we had good individual shooters like Michael Diamond and myself and we put Adam Vella in the team with us,'' he said."To me that was Australia's coming of age in shooting. We had finally got someone else to come through who was world class. We had some women who were very good, Desiree Baynes was a bronze medallist in 1996 and Suzy Balogh at Athens in 2004."But we still need more depth and I don't think the gun legislation in NSW has helped the sport nationally without getting into a political debate."That killed us, so to speak, because the biggest state in Australia wasn't able to provide new shooters."We had to rely on Victorians, Queenslanders, Territorians and South Australians and forget about a state with more people in it than anywhere else.''

source: http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2008/07/14/4669_ntsport.html

Monday, July 7, 2008

Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010: A Threat to the Common Wealth



The Indian capital city of New Delhi will be hosting the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2010. This will be the first time India will host the Commonwealth Games and the second time that the Games will be hosted in Asia. Preparations have been on for quite some time now, to not just renovate and construct sporting facilities all over the city but to also beautify the city and gear it to ensure that visitors during the Games have a comfortable stay. Cashing upon the tourism potential is another motive of all the gearing up. The preparation of the Games has not been untouched by the green wave and Delhi’s Department of Environment, Forest and Wildlife has already asked all concerned authorities to, “ensure that Delhi’s latest showpieces are environmentally sound and reflect the city’s commitment to preserving nature”. However, the ground realities are far from that and the ecological impact of the Games may be much more than the economic gains.
The rapid and deadline driven renovation and laying down of wider transport system, especially connecting the different venues with each other is coming at a huge green cost. A large number of ‘heritage’ trees have either been axed or transplanted. Transplantation has rarely worked and though the Government maintains the green cover of the city has gone up, the green heritage has been lost and the green space missing, from where it is needed the most. This is not just because of the Commonwealth Games, but also to accommodate the ever increasing number of private vehicles, particularly cars, on the Delhi roads. The Delhi metropolitan has more cars than the total number of cars in the other three metros of India, viz., Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai (formerly Bombay, Calcutta and Madras). Concerned citizens and civil society groups have taken to the roads, time and again, to protest against the felling of trees and have also called for a policy to reduce the purchase of such large number of cars in Delhi.
The largest environmental impact of the preparations, which may cause a permanent and irreversible damage to the Delhi ecosystem is the construction of the Games Village complex on the floodplains of river Yamuna, that passes through the city. The river has its own story to tell. The 22 km stretch of the river in the city has already been turned into a drain. A large volume of the water from the river is withdrawn and diverted to be supplied to the city the moment it enters Delhi. What flows in it is essentially the untreated waste water that enters into it during its journey from one to the other end of the city. The river also has power plants, industrial units and what not been put up on its banks. As if all of that wasn’t enough, one of India’s largest and finest temples - Akshardham Temple has also been constructed on the floodplains of the river, right in the heart of the city.

Now, the authorities have decided to construct the Commonwealth Games Village bang opposite to the Temple complex and literally on the riverbed. Constructions are on full swing even as protesters from all across the country have called in for a Yamuna Satyagrah(the fight for truth) - a method of protest first popularised by Mahatma Gandhi. The river has usually shown a calm period of 4-5 years after which, it comes down with a flood of water. With the threats of climate change looming large, one cannot really predict with absolute certainty, but the next time the river comes down with its flood of water, there will be no floodplain available to control it, and the city would then said to be ‘flooded”.
The Environment Department has further asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the various civic agencies to adhere to the concept of “green building technology, sustainable site planning, design and construction of buildings” in order to “ achieve maximum harmony with nature. According to the State Environment, Forest and Wildlife Secretary J. K. Dadoo, “The State Government has declared the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi as Green Games. It is important that buildings that are constructed under the scheme combine features of being water and energy-efficient and are made of eco-friendly material.” What seems to have been overlooked is that such buildings should also hold their ground and not be constructed at places where they are themselves in danger and also pose a threat to the very human ecosystem they are supposed to provide services to.

Source: Written by Govind Singh; http://ecoworldly.com/2008/07/06/commonwealth-games-delhi-2010-a-threat-to-the-common-wealth/

Commonwealth Games Fed president rapshotel work delay

Pune July 06 Commonwealth games Federation (CGF) President Michael Fennell, who was in the city to review the preparations for the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) 2008 on Sunday, expressed “serious concern” about the delay in construction of a hotel for the international event. The hotel, which would be used for lodging international sports persons, VIPs and guests, is stated to be 70 per cent complete.
“I am very impressed with the progress of the main competition venues. The enthusiasm in Pune about the CYG is also encouraging. But the hotel, which is still not complete, is a serious concern for us. I have been assured that the hotel would be ready within 64 days,” Fenell said at a Press conference at Hotel Le-Meredien today.

Suresh Kalmadi, MP, from Pune and CYG 2008 chairman, said that the delay had been caused by the exodus of north Indian workers after the hate campaign launched by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. He said that the court had also stopped construction work of the hotel for a couple of months. “But all the issues have now been sorted out and we have got additional labour force to complete the work in time,” he added.

Kalmadi announced the appointment of V K Verma as director-general for the Commonwealth Games Delhi, 2010 and Commonwealth Youth Games Pune, 2008. He announced the appointment of Prasar Bharti as the Official Broadcaster. Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper and CYG 2008 ADG Lt Gen Ashok Kapur too were present at the Press meet.

Source:http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Commonwealth-Games-Fed-president-rapshotel-work-delay/332158/

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Basketball 2010 Commonwealth championship in India

NEW DELHI: The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has assigned India to host the inaugural Commonwealth basketball championship in 2010.

At a function organised here on Saturday night, FIBA President Bob Elphinston announced that India had agreed to host the event for men in late July, months before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

“Basketball was a part of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. But it is not there in the 2010 Games. So this is the next best possible thing from which young boys and girls in India can know about the game. It is going to be a wonderful opportunity for Indian basketball to grow further,” Elphinston told reporters.

Eight top teams will participate in the event and Australia, New Zealand, England, Nigeria and host India have confirmed participation.

Elphinston said the Indian Government and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) will decide on the venue and dates of the event.

After conducting the men’s event, the FIBA will organise the Commonwealth championship for women in 2012 in some other country.

BFI Secretary General Harish Sharma said they would leave no stone unturned to make the event a success.

“This is a proud moment for us. I thank FIBA for this. They thought we were capable of hosting it. As the Indian government has put basketball in special category, we will have no problem in providing the best facilities,” he said. — Sports Reporter

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/07/stories/2008070755841700.htm