Games under scanner again,inspection next week

The team leaders will be in the Capital from Monday to Friday,during which they will go for venue inspection and assess security arrangements,so that they can give the feedback to their respective associations, said CGF chief executive Mike Hooper. Mr. Fennell will also be there during the visit. The Hockey World Cup is being played here,it will also be an opportunity for the team leaders to see Delhis preparedness in hosting a big event, he said.

Hooper said it was just a coincidence that the visit was happening at around the same time when Delhi was hosting the hockey tournament. The scheduled visit of the chef-de-missions will be first such after the CGF Coordination Commission CoCom which came to Delhi in December last year. Meanwhile,The CoCom is set to return in the month of May again. The CGF will keep monitoring the progress though the CoCom,which is set to visit from May 2 to 5. By that time,we have been told that most of the venues will be ready. The commission will visit once more later.

During its last visit,the Commission had given a thumbs-up to the Organising Committee but was critical of the slow pace of venue construction. Asked if delay in handing over the Games venue remained a worry,Hooper said: The Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium,its said,will be ready by June end. Our line on construction delays is consistent with what Mike Fennell had said during the Coordination Commission meeting in December. It remains a concern and it could have an impact on the operational aspect.

The CGF chief executive also said that the federation was also set to receive a feedback on the recently concluded Commonwealth Shooting Championships,which was the first test event for the Games. Delhi has started to host warm-up events. The shooting event finished last week and Commonwealth Shooting Federation president Graeme Hudson,who was monitoring it,is set to submit his report to the CGF this week, he said.

With regard to the ongoing Hockey World Cup,it8217;s not right to label the tournament as a test event. Its a stand alone tournament being conducted by the FIH and Hockey India. Having said that the CGF is looking forward to the FIH sharing their reports after the tournament is over. There will be valuable lessons for us to learn from the World Cup.

Meanwhile,Hooper,who was at the National Stadium on the first two days of the World Cup said he was happy with the security arrangements. The World Cup has provided us an opportunity to assess the security. The security has been good. The Australian Prime Minister also said recently that there was no credible threat to the teams visiting India,something which we have been saying all along. Still,security is a subjective issue. What8217;s good enough today,might not be sufficient tomorrow. After the Pune incident,we reviewed it again. Next week against,our security experts will visit and assess the arrangements again. But its been satisfactory so far,he said.