New Delhi’s new game

India’s successful bid to bring the Commonwealth Games to New Delhi in 2010 comes laden with great opportunities. It provides a reason — if one were still required — to make over Indian sport. It promises to lend coherence and urgency to major development projects in the capital. But, most of all, it gives India a platform to announce its place in the world. When a country fetches the strongest and fastest sportspersons from far-flung lands, when it provides state-of-the-art facilities for competitors and spectators, it is given a chance to make its case. In staging the event graciously and grandly, it gives proof of strides made in developing infrastructure — specific to sports as well as general civic amenities. It attempts to showcase itself as a favoured destination for tourists and investment. In other words, India is in it for both pride and economic dividends.

Delhi, of course, knows well the benefits that could accrue. The stadia and flyovers constructed for the 1982 Asian Games continue to serve the city; and residents of a certain age still recall with satisfaction the facelift the city got. Delhi’s case for hosting the Commonwealth Games rested largely on its promise to deliver infrastructure in an integrated manner: by reinforcing existing competition facilities with new centres and by completing work on the Delhi Metro as well as other transit systems to guarantee smooth passage of visitors. And in knitting together venues in different parts of the city, the authorities would be committed to the regeneration of areas like East Delhi. The city’s resolve would be tested, but the returns could be huge.

On the other hand, economic returns — another reason why national associations pull out all the stops to net major competitions — are somewhat more iffy. Past Olympic venues provide instruction. Barcelona may still be paying its debts, but the 1992 event catapulted the city to its current reign as style capital of Europe. Sydney was an efficient host in 2000, but is stranded with immense losses, mostly due to under-utilisation of the new stadia since the Olympics. Atlanta, in 1996, simply raked in profits, primarily by harnessing local loyalties of big business. Which way will it go in Delhi 2010?