The 2010 Commonwealth Games were held in Delhi, India from October 3-14, 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations competed in 21 sports. It was the largest international multi-sport event ever held in Delhi. The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. There were initial concerns about Delhi's preparations, but the Games proceeded smoothly. Australia topped the medal table, while host nation India finished second.

1. 2010 Commonwealth Games<br />The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events. It was the largest international multi-sport event to be staged in Delhi and India, eclipsing the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982.<br />The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event. It was the first time that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and the second time it was held in Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998. The official mascot of the Games was Shera and the official song of the Games, quot;
Jiyo Utho Bado Jeetoquot;
, was composed by celebrated Indian musician A.R. Rahman.<br />Initially, several concerns and controversies surfaced before the start of the Games. Despite these concerns, all member nations of theCommonwealth of Nations participated in the event, except Fiji, which is suspended from the Commonwealth, and Tokelau, which didn't send a team. A widely-praised opening ceremony helped improve the image of the Games.[2][3] The concerns raised during the buildup to the Games proved largely unfounded as most events progressed smoothly.<br />The opening ceremony played a key role in improving the image of the Games. As athletes arrived and competitions started, many earlier critics changed their view. The Australian Sports Minister said that India could now aim for the Olympics, and the President of theInternational Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said that India had made a good foundation for a future Olympics bid.[4][5] As the Games concluded, many observers remarked that they began on an apprehensive note, but were an exceptional experience with a largely positive ending.[6][7] Some observers accused sections of the media of bias, unfair expectations, and negative reporting.[8] The final medal tally was led by Australia. The host nation India gave its strongest performance yet to emerge second, while England placed third.<br />The day after the conclusion of the Games, the Indian Government announced the formation of a special investigation committee to probe the allegations of corruption and mismanagement that had marred the buildup to the Games<br />Bidding<br />The two principal bids for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were from Delhi, India and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. A ballot of members was held in November 2003 at the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Delhi bid won by a margin of 46 votes to 22, confirming India's first successful bid for the Games. The bid was Canada's attempt to hold the games for the fifth time.[11][12][13] India's bid motto was New Frontiers and Friendships.[14]<br />India shifted the balance in its favour in the second round of voting with a promise that it would provide US$100,000 to each participating country, along with air tickets, boarding, lodging and transport.[15] The successful 2003 Afro-Asian Games held in Hyderabad was also seen as having showed India has the resources, infrastructure and technical know-how to stage a big sporting event. India also thanked Latif Butt, former vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia, for his support in the winning bid, by saying, quot;
You played a vital role in the Commonwealth Games 2010 being allotted to India. Such actions are worthy of emulation by all concerned in Pakistan and India. I have no doubt that if both sides continue to live by such ideals, one day, sooner than later our generations to come will reap the benefits of and be grateful to those making such contributions. You would certainly be such person.quot;
[14] The Indian government stated that it would underwrite the total cost of the Games<br />Organisation<br />The organisation of CWG 2010 was beset by delays: in January 2010, the Indian Olympic Association vice-chairman Raja Randhir Singh expressed concern that Delhi was not up to speed in forming and organising its games committee and, following a 2009 Indian Government report showing two thirds of venues were behind schedule, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell stated that the slow progress of preparations represented a serious risk to the event.[17] Singh also called for a revamp of the games' organising committees:[18] Jarnail Singh, a former Secretary of the Government of India, was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi was appointed as head of the committee. In spite of delays and the corruption cases levied on the organisors, commentators stated that they were confident that India will successfully host the games and do so on time.[19][20]<br />At the launch of the Queen’s Baton Relay in October 2009, the Business Club of India (BCI) was formed through the partnership of the organising committee, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The BCI was formed to both market the Games and promote Indian business interests internationally.[21]<br />Costs<br />Terminal 3, Indira Gandhi International Airport<br />The initial total budget estimated by the Indian Olympic Association in 2003 for hosting the Games was 1,620 crore (US$359.64 million). In 2010, however, the official total budget soon escalated to an estimated 11,500 crore (US$2.55 billion), a figure which excluded non-sports-related infrastructure development.[22] Business Today magazine estimated that the Games cost 60,000 crore (US$13.32 billion).[23] The 2010 Commonwealth Games are reportedly the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.[24]<br />Transport<br />Further information: Transport in Delhi<br />Road Transport, Delhi<br />AC Tata Marcopolo DTC Bus ferrying athletes and officials during left<br />A four-lane flyway, 2.2 km stretch from Lodhi Road to trans-Yamuna, linking the Games Village to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was constructed which reduced the travelling time between the villageand the Stadium to six minutes.<br />Delhi Metro<br />Delhi–Gurgaon Expressway with Toll Tax Gate, Gurgaon<br />In response to concerns over the large number of trains that pass by the Delhi metropolitan region daily, construction of road under-bridges and over-bridges along railway lines have been completed. To expand road infrastructure, flyovers, cloverleaf flyovers, and bridges were built to improve links for the Games and city in general. Road-widening projects have begun with an emphasis being placed on expanding national highways. To improve traffic flow on existing roads, plans are underway to make both the inner and outer Ring roads signal free.<br />To support its commitment to mass transport, nine corridors have been identified and are being constructed as High Capacity Bus Systems (for example, one from Ambedkar Nagar to Red Fort). Six of these corridors are expected to be operational in 2010. Additionally, The Delhi Metro had been expanded to accommodate more people and boost the use of public transport during the 2010 games. The metro has extended to Gurgaon and the Noida area. For this large increase in the size of the network, Delhi Metro had deployed 14 tunnel boring machines.[25] Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) was used to tag vehicles in venue parking lots to help organize mass parking and increase security.[26]<br />Indira Gandhi International Airport is being modernised, expanded, and upgraded. Costing nearly $1.95 billion, Terminal 3 has improved airportpassenger capacity to more than 37 million passengers a year by 2010. A new runway has been constructed, allowing for more than 75 flights an hour. At more than 4400 metres long, it will be one of Asia's longest.<br />The airport has been connected to the city via a six-lane expressway (Delhi–Gurgaon Expressway) and the $580 million Delhi Airport Metro Express line.[27]<br />Green Games<br />Logo for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games being recognised as the first ever quot;
Green Commonwealth Gamesquot;
<br />The organisers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme to show the intention to host a quot;
sustainable gamesquot;
and to take the environment into consideration when constructing and renovating venues. Thyagaraj Stadium is intended to be a key example of environmentally considered construction.<br />In opposition to this intention, a number of environmental controversies arose and the adverse ecological impact of various aspects of the games have been protested by city residents.[28][29] City residents filed a public interest petition to the Supreme Court of India against the felling of 'heritage' trees in the Siri Fort area to make way for Games facilities. The court appointed architect Charles Correa to assess the impact and he severely criticised the designs on ecological grounds.[30] In spite of this, in April 2009 the Supreme Court allowed the construction on the grounds that quot;
much time had been lostquot;
and quot;
the damage already caused to the environment could not be undonequot;
.[31][32]<br />The Commonwealth Games village, located on the flood plains of the Yamuna, has also been the subject of controversies about the flouting of ecological norms.[33] After a prolonged legal battle between city residents and the state, construction was permitted to continue on the basis of an order of the Supreme Court of India in July 2009, which held that the government had satisfied the requirements of quot;
due process of the lawquot;
by issuing public notice of its intention to begin construction work in September 1999 (a date four years prior to the acceptance of Delhi's bid for the games).[34]<br />Other preparation<br />The helium aerostat with traditional IndianRajasthani puppets attached, during the 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony<br />In preparation for an influx of English-speaking tourists for the Games, the Delhi government is implementing a program to teach English, and the necessary skills for serving tourists, to key workers—such as cab drivers, security workers, waiters, porters, and service staff. In the two years prior to the Games 2,000 drivers were taught English. The program aims to teach 1,000 people English per month in the hope of reaching all key workers by March 2010. In addition to Delhi, the Indian Government plans to expand the program to teach people in local tourist destinations in other parts of India.[35]<br />To prepare for the energy-usage spike during the Games and to end chronic power cuts in Delhi, the government is undertaking a large power-production initiative to increase power production to 7,000 MW (from the current 4,500 MW). To achieve this goal, the government plans to streamline the power distribution process, direct additional energy to Delhi, and construct new power plants. In fact, the government has promised that by the end of 2010, Delhi will have a surplus of power.[36]<br />In addition to physical preparation, India will offer free accommodation for all athletes at the Games Village, as well as free transport and other benefits, such as a free trip to the famed Taj Mahal and a reserved lane for participants on selected highways.[37] The Games Village will house over 8,000 athletes and officials for the Games. Indian states will train state police forces to handle tourist-related issues and deploy them prior to the Games. A large-scale construction and quot;
beautificationquot;
project has resulted in the demolition of hundreds of homes and the displacement of city dwellers—at least 100,000 of New Delhi’s 160,000 homeless people have removed from shelters, some of which have been demolished.[38][39] Bamboo screens have been erected around city slums to separate visitors from the sights of the slums,[40] a practice which human rights campaigners have deemed dishonest and immoral.[41]<br />The Delhi High Court is set to implement a series of quot;
mobile courtsquot;
to be dispatched throughout Delhi to relocate migrant beggars from Delhi streets. The mobile courts would consider each beggar on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the beggar should be sent back to his/her state of residence, or be permitted to remain in government-shelters.[42]<br />Symbols<br />Mascot<br />The official mascot for the 2010 Commonwealth Games is Shera, an anthropomorphised tiger.[43] His name comes from quot;
Sherquot;
, a hindi word meaning tiger (Hindi quot;
Baghquot;
means tiger. However, Sher is colloquially used for both lion and tiger). The logo and the look for the games were designed by Idiom Design and Consulting.There is one song for Shera also composed by the popular composer of INDIA the song contains initiative quot;
Shera Sheraquot;
[44]<br />The mascot Shera is visiting many schools across Delhi to create enthusiasm and interest for the Commonwealth Games being held .<br />Official song<br />Main article: Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto<br />A.R. Rehman is Singing the theme song in the opening ceremony.<br />The official song of the 2010 Commonwealth Games quot;
Jiyo Utho Bado Jeetoquot;
was composed and performed by the Indian musician A. R. Rahman.[45] The song's title is based on the slogan of the games, quot;
Come out and playquot;
. The song is penned by Mehboob in Hindi with a sprinkling of English words. It was released on 28 August 2010. The music video, directed by Bharath Bala was released on 23 September and featured a shorter version of the song. A. R. Rahman also gave a live concert for the theme song in Gurgaon , Haryana which was previewed on various news channels . The official video of the song has been released on YouTube .<br />Queen's Baton relay<br />The Queen's Baton Relay began when the baton, which contains Queen Elizabeth II's message to the athletes, left Buckingham Palace on 29 October 2009. The baton arrived at the 2010 Games opening ceremony on 3 October 2010, after visiting the other 54 nations of the Commonwealth and travelling throughout India, reaching millions of people to join in the celebrations for the Games.The baton arrived in India on 25 June 2010 through the Wagah Border crossing from Pakistan.[46]<br />The baton was designed by Michael Foley, a graduate of the National Institute of Design.[47] It is a triangular section of aluminium twisted into a helix shape and then coated with coloured soils collected from all the regions of India. The coloured soils are a first for the styling of a Queen's Baton. A jewel-encrusted box was used to house the Queen's message, which was laser-engraved onto a miniature 18 carat gold leaf—representative of the ancient Indian 'patras. The Queen's baton is ergonomically contoured for ease of use. It is 664 millimetres (26.1 in) high, 34 millimetres (1.3 in) wide at the base, and 86 millimetres (3.4 in) wide at the top and weighs 1,900 grams (67 oz).<br />The Queen's baton has a number of technological features including:<br />The ability to capture images and sound<br />Global positioning system (GPS) technology so the baton's location can be tracked<br />Embedded light emitting diodes (LEDs) which will change into the colours of a country’s flag whilst in that country<br />A text messaging capability so that people can send messages of congratulations and encouragement to the baton bearers throughout the relay<br />Calendar<br />The official calendar for the 2010 Commonwealth Games is as follows.[48] Click on the blue dots in the table to read about the individual events.<br /> ● Opening ceremony Event competitions ● Event finals ● Closing ceremony<br />October 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Gold MedalsVenueCeremonies●●Jawaharlal Nehru StadiumAquatics● ● ●● ●● ● ●● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ●● ●● ● ● ●● ● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ●● ● ●● ●56SPM Swimming Pool ComplexArchery● ●● ●● ●● ●8Yamuna Sports ComplexAthletics● ●● ● ●● ●● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ●● ● ●● ● ●●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ●52Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium & India GateBadminton●● ● ●● ●6Siri Fort Sports ComplexBoxing● ● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●10Talkatora StadiumCycling● ● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ● ●● ●● ●18I. G. Indoor Stadium Complex & India GateGymnastics●●● ●● ● ●● ●● ● ●● ●●●● ●● ●20I. G. Indoor Stadium ComplexHockey●●2Maj. Dhyan Chand National StadiumLawn bowls● ●● ●● ●6Jawaharlal Nehru StadiumNetball●1Thyagaraj Sports ComplexRugby sevens●1Delhi University StadiumShooting● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ● ●● ●● ●● ●● ● ●● ●● ●● ●● ● ●● ● ●36Dr. Karni Singh Shooting RangeSquash● ●● ● ●5Siri Fort Sports ComplexTable tennis●●●● ●● ● ●8Yamuna Sports ComplexTennis● ●● ● ●5R.K. Khanna Tennis ComplexWeightlifting● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●●● ●17Jawaharlal Nehru StadiumWrestling● ● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ●● ●21I. G. Indoor Stadium ComplexTotal Gold Medals818283543312914212916272Total Gold MedalsOctober34567891011121314Gold MedalsVenue<br />Opening ceremony<br />Main article: 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony<br />The 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. In the foreground is the aerostat<br />The opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event, in New Delhi, India. It began at 7:00 PM (IST) on 3 October 2010 ending at 11:00 PM (IST) displaying India's varied culture in a plethora of cultural showcases.[49] The opening ceremony was directed by Ganapathy Bharat, known commonly as Bharat Bala, an acclaimed Tamil film director, screenwriter and film producer based in Kodambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.<br />Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (representing Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth) and President of India Pratibha Patil officially declared the Games open.[50] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the host nation, India, attended the opening ceremony as well.<br />A total of three heads of state from outside India attended the opening ceremony; two from Commonwealth nations and one from a non-Commonwealth nation. The three head of states are Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives, Marcus Stephen, President of Nauru and a multiple Commonwealth gold medallist, and Prince Albert II of Monaco, whose country Monaco is not a member of the Commonwealth.[51] As well, Sir Anand Satyanand, the Governor General of New Zealand (the first of Indian descent), attended the ceremony.[52]<br />The opening ceremony was praised throughout the world as quot;
dazzlingquot;
and quot;
a moment of pride for Indiaquot;
.[53] Newspapers in major Commonwealth countries heavily praised the ceremony such as Australia and England, with headlines such as quot;
Inida has arrivedquot;
and quot;
Commonwealth Games kicks off in stylequot;
.[53] The International media were greatly surprised at the smoothness of the conduction of the ceremony, and described it as quot;
a display of pageantry and technical wizardryquot;
.[54] Mediapersons reported that India had put its best face forward and pulled off quot;
a brilliant opening ceremony that was extraordinary in its ambition and executionquot;
.[54]<br />The opening ceremony is widely held to have dispelled the fears and negative publicity surrounding the Games.[ HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_wordsquot;
quot;
Wikipedia:Avoid weasel wordsquot;
who?] Internationally, people declared that the opening ceremony quot;
made India's troubles seem so far awayquot;
.[54] The Australian said that quot;
after a lead-up plagued by terror threats, a bridge collapse, a shambolic village, the first case of dengue fever and more, India delivered a brilliant and lively opening ceremony. There were no visible glitches, and all 71 nations participated despite threats of boycottingquot;
. It also added that India quot;
should feel proud of the opening ceremony, classy and showy but somehow warmer and less contrived than the Beijing experience. No collapsed bridges. No slithering snakes. No collapsing roof and, blow me down, before a late blow-out she almost ran on timequot;
.[54] The Sydney Morning Herald said that the ceremony was quot;
well beyond what could have been expected after a shoddy build-upquot;
.[54] The Daily Telegraph said that the ceremony quot;
truly answered the question on everyone’s lips over the past two months: “Can they get it finished on time?quot;
[...] Delhi's extravaganza compared favourably with the greatopening ceremonies of recent timesquot;
.[54]<br />Sports<br />There were events in 21 disciplines across 17 sports for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.<br />Aquatics (details) Diving Swimming Synchronised swimming Archery (8) (details) Athletics (46) (details) Badminton (6) (details) Boxing (11) (details)Cycling (details) Road TrackGymnastics (details) Artistic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics Hockey (2) (details) Lawn bowls (6) (details) Netball (1) (details) Rugby sevens (1) (details) Shooting (44) (details) Squash (5) (details) Table tennis (7) (details) Tennis (5) (details) Weightlifting (15) (details) Wrestling (21) (details)<br />Kabaddi was a demonstration sport at the Games.[55]<br />Triathlon was excluded from the games as there was no suitable location for the swimming stage.[citation needed] The organisers have also removed basketball, but included archery,tennis and wrestling. Cricket, although in strong demand, did not make a come-back as the Board of Control for Cricket in India were not keen on a Twenty20 tournament, and the organisers did not want a one day tournament.[56]<br />Medal table<br />Medalists of the Badminton mixed team competition at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. From the left: India (silver), Malaysia (gold), and England (bronze).<br />Medalists of the 10 metre air pistol pairs women at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. From the left: Dina Aspandiyarova, Pamela McKenzie, Heena Sidhu, Annu Raj Singh, Dorothy Ludwig, and Lynda Hare.<br />Only the top ten nations by medal rank are shown in this medal table. Nations are ranked first by count of gold medals, then silver medals, then bronze medals. For the full medal table, see the main article.<br />The ranking in this table is consistent with International Olympic Committee convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a quot;
nationquot;
is an entity represented by an NOC). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IOC country code.<br />In Boxing two bronze medals were awarded in each weight class. Additionally there was a tie of three athletes for the third place in thewomen's pole vault in athletics meant that three bronze medals were awarded. Therefore, the total number of bronze medals is greater than the total number of gold or silver medals.[57]<br /> Host nation India<br />RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal1 Australia7455481772 India3827361013 England3759461424 Canada261732755 South Africa121110336 Kenya12119327 Malaysia121013358 Singapore11119319 Nigeria1110143510 Scotland910726Total272274282828[58]<br />Closing ceremony<br />This section requires expansion.<br />The games closed on 14 October 2010 in a colourful closing ceremony featuring both Indian and Scottish performers.[59][60][61] The closing ceremony was not as well received as the opening ceremony.[62] The Commonwealth Games flag was handed over to representatives of Glasgow, Scotland, which will host the XX Commonwealth Games in 2014.<br />At the closing ceremony, the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation declared that Delhi had hosted a quot;
truly exceptional Gamesquot;
.[63] A day after the ceremony, Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond stated that quot;
[Scotland] is highly impressed with Delhi's success in holding the multi-sport event,[...] Delhi hosted a very successful Commonwealth Games. It will be a challenge to emulatequot;
.[64]<br />Participating nations<br />There were 71 participating nations at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. As Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth, it was banned from participating in the Games.[65] Rwanda fielded a team for the games for the first time after becoming a Commonwealth member in 2009.[66] Numbers of athletes are shown in brackets. Tokelau was initially expected to compete, but did not do so.[67]<br /> Anguilla (12)[68] Antigua and Barbuda (17)[69] Australia (377) [70] Bahamas (24) [71] Bangladesh (70) [72] Barbados (39)[73] Belize (9)[74] Bermuda (14) [75] Botswana (49)[76] British Virgin Islands (2)[77] Brunei (12)[78] Cameroon (20)[79] Canada (251)[80] Cayman Islands (17)[81] Cook Islands (31)[82] Cyprus (56)[83] Dominica (15)[84] England (365) [85] Falkland Islands (15)[86] Gambia (17)[87] Ghana (64)[88] Gibraltar (15)[89] Grenada (10)[90] Guernsey (43) [91] Guyana (34)[92] India (495) Isle of Man (33)[91] Jamaica (48)[93] Jersey (33) [94] Kenya (136)[95] Kiribati(17)[96] Lesotho (10)[97] Malawi (43)[98] Malaysia (203)[99] Maldives (28) [100] Malta (22) [101] Mauritius (55)[102] Montserrat (5)[103] Mozambique (10) [104] Namibia (30) [105] Nauru (6)[106] New Zealand (192)[107] Nigeria (101) [108] Niue (24)[109] Norfolk Island (22)[110] Northern Ireland (80)[111] Pakistan (54)[112] Papua New Guinea (79)[113] Rwanda (22) [114] Saint Helena (4)[115] Saint Kitts and Nevis (7)[116] Saint Lucia (13)[117] Saint Vincent and the Grenadines(14)[118] Samoa (53)[119] Scotland (191) [120] Seychelles (26)[121] Sierra Leone (31)[122] Singapore (68) [123] Solomon Islands (12)[124] South Africa (113)[125] Sri Lanka (94)[126] Swaziland (11)[127] Tanzania (40)[128] Tonga (22)[129] Trinidad and Tobago (82) [130] Turks and Caicos Islands (8)[131] Tuvalu (3)[132] Uganda (65) [133] Vanuatu (14)[134] Wales (175) [91] Zambia (22)[135]<br />Nations that competed at the Games<br />Venues<br />Main article: Venues of the 2010 Commonwealth Games<br />The main venue of the Games, theJawaharlal Nehru Stadium.<br />The venue of the Tennis, the RK Khanna Tennis Complex, New Delhi.<br />Events took place at 12 competition venues. A total of 20 training venues were used in the Games. Of these 20, one was used for archery; three for aquatics; two for lawn bowls; two for netball; eight for rugby sevens, including seven venues within Delhi University; two for shooting; one for squash; two for table tennis; one for weightlifting, three for wrestling and two for tennis.[136]<br />The Commonwealth Games Village provided accommodation and training for athletes of the Games, and was opened from 23 September to 18 October 2010. It is located along the east bank of the River Yamuna, in proximity to competition and training venues as well as city landmarks, and is spread over an area of 63.5 hectares (157 acres). Comprising five main zones—the Residential Zone, the International Zone, the Training Area, the Main Dining and the Operational Zone—the Games Village, which is a non-smoking zone,[137] is universally accessible particularly to accommodate para-sport athletes.[138]<br />There were three main non-competition venues in the Games, besides the Commonwealth Games Village (see above); namely the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Headquarters (OC CWG Delhi 2010), the Main Media Centre, and the Games Family Hotel, Hotel Ashok.<br />Concerns and controversies<br />Main article: Concerns and controversies over the 2010 Commonwealth Games<br />Several concerns were raised over the preparations of the Games and these included excessive budget overruns,[139] likelihood of floods in Delhi due to heavy monsoon rains, infrastructural compromise, poor living conditions at the Commonwealth Games Village, delays in construction of the main Games' venues,[140][141] the withdrawal of prominent athletes,[142] widespread corruption by officials of the Games' Organising Committee[143] and possibility of a terrorist attack by militants.[144]<br />The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi was criticized by several prominent Indian politicians and social activists. One of the outspoken critics of the Games is Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Indian Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. In April 2007, Aiyar commented that the Games are quot;
irrelevant to the common manquot;
and criticized the Indian government for sanctioning billions of dollars for the Games even though India requires massive investment in social development programs.[145] In July 2010, he remarked that he would be quot;
unhappy if the Commonwealth Games are successfulquot;
.[146] Miloon Kothari, leading Indian expert on socio-economic development, questioned the justification of spending billions of dollars on a 12-day sports event quot;
when 46% of India's children and 55% of women are malnourishedquot;
.[147]<br />Concerns raised by Aiyar were echoed by several others in India. Initial concerns about the 2010 Commonwealth Games included delays in completion of projects, poor construction standards, corruption by Games' Organising Committee officials and possibility of a terrorist attack. The Indian media also alleged that Games' Organising Committee officials were involved in serious corruption and these allegations included acceptance of bribe during the process of awarding construction contracts for the Games' venues.[15][148] The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee on 5 August 2010 suspended T S Darbari (joint director in the organising committee) and Sanjay Mahendroo (deputy director general in the organising committee) following the report of the three-member panel which was probing the financial irregularities related to the Queen's Baton Relay.[149] Organising Committee treasurer Anil Khanna resigned from the post in the wake of allegations that his son's firm had secured a contract for laying synthetic courts at a tennis stadium.[150] On September 23, The Daily Telegraph UK showed photographs taken of child labour working on the Games sites.[151] There was also multiple cases of items being rented for the 45 days for more money than it would cost to actually buy the item.[152] In one such case, 72 golf carts were hired for 4.23 lakh (US$9,390.6) each, when they could have been purchased for 1.84 lakh (US$4,084.8)each.[152]<br />Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), an apex Government of India anti-corruption agency, released a report highlighting financial irregularities in up to fourteen Games projects.[153] As per CVC report, in total 129 works in 71 organisations have been inspected.[154] The preliminary findings include — complete lack of involvement of the city and the community at large, award of work contracts at higher prices, poor quality assurance and management, and award of work contracts to ineligible agencies.[155]<br />Weeks before the start of the Games, Indian media outlets highlighted the poor construction standards at several of the main Games venues.[147] In late September 2010, the president of the Commonwealth Games Federation remarked that the Games Village were far from completion and needed a quot;
deep cleanquot;
and New Zealand's chef de mission even claimed that the Games might not take place given the amount of work to be done.[156] The concerns came to media attention in late September 2010 after media outlets began reporting on quot;
filthy and unlivable conditionsquot;
and taking photos of paan stains and excrement in living quarters at the games village. Just a day after these remarks, a footbridge under construction near the Nehru Stadium collapsed, injuring 27 and seriously injuring five. On 22 September 2010, some tiles at the wrestling stadium's false ceiling caved in; however, there were no reported injuries.[157] After the start of the games, a large scoreboard at the rugby stadium toppled over, though before any competitions had started in the stadium. Security concerns were highlighted by an Australian TV crew from the Seven Network who claimed to have walked past security with a suitcase containing a dummy bomb casing and its detonator on 15 September,[158][159][160][161] although the claim was later revealed to be 'bogus' and dishonest journalism.[162][163] Concerns of a terrorist attack were also raised following a gun attack that took place outside the Jama Masjid on 19 September 2010. However, the Indian authorities stated that the shooting was a quot;
one-off incidentquot;
.[164]<br />In the opening ceremony, the chairman of Organising Committee, Suresh Kalmadi, faced further embarrassment when he was booed by the Indian spectators at the start of his welcome speech. The crowd atmosphere otherwise was upbeat, especially when they offered a warm applause to the neighboring Pakistan squad despite the tense relations between India and Pakistan.[165]<br />More than a dozen athletes from Australia and England, mainly swimmers, fell ill in the initial days of the swimming competitions. Early suspicions rested on the quality of water in the swimming pools of the SPM Complex, but other competing teams, including South Africa, reported no such illness.[166] Daily water quality tests were being carried out on the water of the pools, as mandated by the event standards. Additional tests were ordered after news of the illnesses, but they also did not find anything amiss. The Australian team's chief doctor, Peter Harcourt, ruled that the quot;
chances of the [Delhi] pool being the cause of the problem is very remotequot;
and praised the hygiene and food quality in the Delhi Games Village.[167] He suggested that it could be a common case of Traveler's diarrhea (locally called Delhi belly), or the Australian swimmers could have contracted the stomach virus during their training camp in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[167] English Olympic and Commonwealth gold-medalist swimmer Rebecca Adlington said that the water quality was absolutely fine.[60]<br />In another incident, three Ugandan officials were injured when the car they were travelling in hit a security wheel stopper at the Games village.[168] The chairman of the Games' Organising Committee, Suresh Kalmadi, apologized to the Ugandan High Commissioner to India for the freak car accident[citation needed].<br />The negative pre-event publicity and heavy security presence played in part in low spectator attendance during the initial events. However the numbers picked up as the Games progressed.<br />Formation of dedicated investigation committee<br />The day after the conclusion of the Games, the Indian Government announced the formation of a special committee to probe the allegations of corruption and mismanagement against the Organising Committee. The probe committee will be led by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India VK Shunglu. This probe will be in addition to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, and Central Vigilance Commission investigations already underway. The Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh had promised in mid-August, when reports of the bungling first surfaced, that corrupt officials will be given quot;
severe and exemplaryquot;
punishment after the Games. The probe committee is tasked with looking into quot;
all aspects of organising and conductingquot;
the Games, and quot;
to draw lessons from it.quot;
It has been given three months time to submit its report.[9][10] The Indian Sports Ministry has directed the Organising Committee of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (led by Suresh Kalmadi), to not release any staffer from their positions till the probe committee's work is finished.<br />Terrorist attack plans<br />On October 10, 2010, the Indian government received detailed reports from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaida were planning to attack a luxury hotel in Delhi and a games venue on October 12 or 13. In response, the Central Government increased security at Delhi's top eight hotels and 80 trucks of sand were checked quot;
shovel by shovelquot;
for hidden bombs and grenades.[169]<br />Legacy<br />India is largely a single-sport country, with cricket far outstripping all other sports in terms of the talent, sponsorships, spectator support, and media attention it receives. The Indian cricket team is currently (15 October 2010) ranked world number one in Test cricket.[170] One of the important aims of hosting the Commonwealth Games was to build world-class athletics infrastructure within the nation, expose audiences to top-level non-cricket competition, and encourage the youth to quot;
Come out and playquot;
(the official theme of the games).[171]Building a sporting culture that looks beyond cricket is seen as an important task for a country which won its first ever individual Olympic gold medal only in Beijing 2008, despite having the world's second-largest population.[172]<br />Lord Sebastian Coe, former Olympic Champion and chairman of the 2012 London Olympics Organising Committee, was at the stadium during the 4x400m women's relay, and witness to the deafening cheers for the racers. He described it as quot;
potentially the moment that could change the course of athletics in Asia, the moment that could inspire thousands of people who'd never even seen an athletics track before to get involved.quot;
He added that quot;
To build a truly global capacity in sport, you have to take it round the world - out of your own backyard. That means taking risks and facing challenges, but it has to be done.quot;
[60]<br />The probe report showed how the head of the ticketing agency, IRCTC - Sanjiv Mittal was removed from his post when he raised the issue about the free tickets distribution. The projected revenue from ticketing was assessed at Rs 100 crore, but the OC only managed to earn Rs 39 crore. <br />Only 2 bidders in fray for CWG broadcastAshish Sinha / New Delhi August 20, 2009, 1:07 IST<br />The multi-million dollar production contract for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010 may be decided between two entities — consortium of Nimbus Communications and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Satellite Information Service Live of United Kingdom — as only these two entities are said to have submitted the bids today, highly places sources said.<br />August 19 was the final day of submission of financial and technical bids.<br />“Not everyone turned up with their bid documents today. Those who have submitted their bids will have to wait for some time before the matter is finally decided,” said a government source on the condition of anonymity.<br />When contacted, an official concerned with the CWG Organising Committee refused to comment on the matter.<br />Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) had shortlisted five firms out of a total of 10 interested bidders for producing the high definition (HDTV) format telecast of the CWG 2010 for Doordarshan, the host broadcaster for the event.<br />Those shortlisted include Nimbus Sports International, Singapore, in consortium with International Sports Broadcasting, USA, Swiss-based International Games Broadcast Services, and Reliance Big Production in consortium with Tokyo Broadcasting of Japan.<br />The Commonwealth Games 2010 are scheduled to be held from October 3 to October 14 next year and the rules specify that host broadcaster Doordarshan has to produce an international feed in HDTV format.<br />Since Doordarshan is not equipped with the technical infrastructure for HDTV coverage, it had called for bids from domestic and international content creators in December 2008.<br />It was only in July that the government announced a list of five successful shortlisted firms that qualified for the financial bidding stage.<br />A senior executive in one of the leading sports broadcasting firms said: “It took nearly four years of preparations for the host broadcasters of Beijing Olympics. The government should quickly finalise a production house in order to produce HDTV feed for CWG 2010, something no broadcaster has done in the country so far.”<br />Industry experts said it may require around 200-250 high-definition camera and over 2,000 skilled manpower to cover the CWG 2010 in HDTV format as it was a specialised broadcast.<br />The estimated production cost for the event may turn out to be around $200 million, experts say.<br /> <br />