Old hands try new tricks

What was supposed to be a press conference to give an update on the Delhi 2010 preparations turned out to be a show of strength by Suresh Kalmadi...

What was supposed to be a press conference to give an update on the Delhi 2010 preparations turned out to be a show of strength by Suresh Kalmadi amp; Co,who are reeling under a government order to fix tenures of sport administrators. The final visit of the Commonwealth Games Federation Coordination Commission CoCom to the city ended with them showing solidarity with the long-serving IOA officials,who hold key positions in the Games Organising Committee.

The tone of the session was set by the OC chairman Kalmadi,who introduced CoCom chairman Austin Sealy of Barbados not as the treasurer of the Commonwealth Games Federation CGF,but as an International Olympic Committee member.

For his part,Sealy started by observing that remarkable progress had been made by the OC,before he switched tracks to the ongoing standoff between the Kalmadi-led Indian Olympic Association IOA and the sports ministry. The timing of the order was unfortunate. The Organising Committee could have done their work without these distractions, said Sealy. He went on to add that unending tenures of sports officials wasnt an India-specific phenomenon.

I have been the CGF Treasurer since 1986 and before that I was the head of my countrys Olympic committee for 14 years. CGF president Mike Fennell has been the Jamaican Olympic Associations president for more than 30 years. We dont have this kind of problem in our part of the world, he added.

While Kalmadi and his team have been suggesting that the controversy might even impact the Commonwealth Games,Sealy didnt agree. I hope not. It is not a CGF issue. We will have to continue keeping our hands on the plough and tackle the task at hand, the official said.

Meanwhile,Kalmadi informed that he met the Prime Minister on Wednesday morning and assured him that the distraction will not affect the preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

However,the evidence suggests otherwise,especially since the key challenges in the CoComs latest observation remain similar to those during its last visit in December. Back then,Mike Fennell had expressed concern over the delay in construction of venues,especially the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Talkatora Swimming Complex. Six months on,the work is far from over. Worse,the deadline for the Games village,which the CGF had said would be the best ever,has been furthered to September 16,just a fortnight before the Games.

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The main concern is the delay in the delivery of venues,particularly JLN Stadium,the Talkatora complex and the Games Village. These delays have a knock-on effect and hamper the OCs planning, he said.

We are confident that the test events at these venues will be held in time. There has been rapid progress since our last visit in December but a lot of work still remains to be done. We urge the OC for an increased acceleration in all areas which pose a substantial time and delivery challenge for the Games, he added.

Ministry to send official to IOC

Meanwhile,the government has proposed to send an official to the IOC headquarters in Switzerland to sort out the issue. In order to have a thorough and conclusive discussion on the subject,the government will be deputing a senior official to the IOC headquarters at a mutually convenient date, a statement said.