Racism slur now hits Commonwealth Games

Posted by Prem on Saturday, October 9, 2010
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Racism slur has become the latest  controversy to hit the already-troubled Commonwealth Games with at least  three such incidents since the mega-event got underway last Sunday.

South African  swimmer Roland Schoeman had on Friday condemned crowd antics describing  them like "monkeys", while an English official used an expletive against  Indian archery head coach Limba Ram in two different incidents.

Former world record  holder Schoeman was furious at the noise during his 50m freestyle semifinal and referred to a particularly vocal spectator as a monkey.

"There were people  going on like monkeys. It's an absolute disgrace. There's a guy in the  stands just shouting, shouting, shouting. Somebody like that needs to be  ejected," the South African ranted as he was allowed to restart and  qualified for the final.

"It's unacceptable  to be at a professional event like this and have people going on like  monkeys. Someone like that doesn't deserve to be here."

But later in the day in a  damage-control mode, Schoeman tweeted: “For the first time in my life I  had someone scream out as we were going to start the 50m freestyle..”

"I've never  experienced something like that before. The behaviour by that individual  was unacceptable and my comments are directed solely at him. The  spectators have been fantastic here. But an individual like that doesn't  deserve to be sitting poolside at an international competition," he  said in the micro-blogging site.

Earlier, the chief  Indian archery coach had to bear the brunt of a miffed English official  after their one-point defeat to lose the gold medal in the women's  recurve team event at the Yamuna Sports Complex.

The Olympian said that he was abused by a foreign official when he went to shake hands, a customary gesture after a match.


"When I was about to  extend my hand to this person wearing English team colours (white and  red), he showed me his elbow and told me 'f*** ***'," said Ram.

England's archery  team official, Hilda Gibson, though said she was unaware of the  incident. But the English archers complained about the crowd behaviour  at the archery venue though they did not blame it for their loss.

"The crowd were  intentionally shouting, which is not a good thing to do in a sport like  archery. In England, crowd would have been quiet. It was not good  sportsmanship. But we are not blaming them nor are we protesting,"  Gibson said, as FITA issued a statement and threatened to stop the  competition if such incidents happened in the future.

Already there had been a diplomatic  row following a New Zelander TV presenter's racist jibe at Delhi Chief  Minister Sheila Dixit.

Source: Indianexpress.com 

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Commonwealth Games 2010: Home crowd carries Sania Mirza

Posted by Prem on Friday, October 8, 2010
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Some Commonwealth Games venues have struggled to attract the fans but there have been no such problems at the RK Khanna Tennis Complex, where Indian players have been keeping the home crowd happy.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were entertaining all week before suffering defeat in the semi-finals, but Somdev Devvarman made it to the men's singles final.

Apart from the cricket team, though, there is arguably no Indian sports star that attracts attention like Sania Mirza, who on Friday battled past Australia's Olivia Rogowska to reach the final of the women's singles.

Only some of that attention comes because of her ability on the court during a seven-year career that has seen her reach the heights of number 27 in the world, then spiral to her current rank of 137.

The rest has a lot to do with her marriage to Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik.

If you need a comparison in the western world, it's with Posh and Becks - the combination of two people who are the biggest in their own field.

But there is never really an equivalent to the adulation for Indian sports or Bollywood stars because in a country with a population of 1.2 billion there are just so many fans.

Mirza, a Muslim, has courted controversy in the past by wearing short skirts and by playing doubles with Israel's Shahar Peer, quite apart from marrying Pakistani divorcee Shoaib.

But even though there was criticism about the wedding, there was also wall-to-wall coverage.

If Mirza walked down a Delhi street she would be mobbed, and her popularity was obvious on Friday as the crowd chanted, "India Rules, India Wins!" and applauded Rogowska's double-faults, urging their favourite to victory.

Mirza rewarded them by hitting balls into the crowd afterwards.

"There are pros and cons with everything. It's great to have a home crowd behind you, supporting you. They want you to win badly and pull you up," she told me.

"yes, there's a lot of pressure when you're playing at home. Everyone feels it all the more in India."
Shoaib was there to watch his wife on Friday, occasionally leaning over the wall behind the baseline to offer advice, but he will miss the final because he has other commitments.

"It's great to have someone who is so good in his sport. It makes it a lot easier for both of us," said Mirza, who lives with Shoaib in Dubai.


"The support is great but also the fact he understands a lot of what goes into it and what goes through your mind.

"He's very calm during a match and I'm not like that, I'm very different. I think he gives me that soothing factor.

"It's pretty amazing, considering he still plays for his country and I still play for mine and we still support each other. Sometimes it gets difficult to have some private time but thankfully we're very homely people."

Mirza has had her eyes on her game, rather than on the medals table, where the Indian team have established themselves in second place, aiming for 100 medals.

"I try not to watch the news when I'm in India, especially when I'm playing, because a lot is said, but I did hear that India is number two at the moment," she said.

"I hope we can add some more medals to that and hopefully I can get the gold and Somdev can too."

Source: news.bbc.co.uk
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Common Wealth Games Delhi Medals 8th October 2010

Posted by Prem
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Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi Medals
Medals As of Friday, October 08, 2010

Country Men Women Mixed Total
G S B Total G S B Total G S B Total G S B Total
Australia 22 9 16 47 25 15 11 51 0 0 0 0 47 24 27 98
India 13 9 8 30 7 6 4 17 0 1 0 1 20 16 12 48
England
7 17 1 25 5 6 10 21 0 0 0 0 12 23 11 46
Canada
5 2 7 14 9 3 13 25 0 0 0 0 14 5 20 39
South Africa
5 3 6 14 2 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 7 5 6 18
Nigeria
 1 1 2 4 4 4 6 14 0 0 0 0 5 5 8 18
Malaysia
3 5 3 11 1 0 3 4 1 0 0 1 5 5 6 16
Singapore
 1 2 3 6 2 2 1 5 0 0 0 0 3 3 4 11
Kenya
 1 1 1 3 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 1 6
Jamaica
 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3
New Zealand
 0 8 3 11 1 5 2 8 0 0 0 0 1 13 5 19
Scotland
 1 2 2 5 0 1 3 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 5 9
Cyprus
 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2
Nauru
 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Botswana
 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Uganda
 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Wales
 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 9 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 9
Trinidad and Tobago
0 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3
Northern Ireland
0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
Sri Lanka
0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
Cameroon
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
Pakistan
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Seychelles
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Papua New Guinea
 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
St. Vincent & The Grenadines
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Isle of Man
 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Bangladesh
 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Ghana
 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Namibia
 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Guyana
 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Total: 68 70 66 204 62 62 63 187 1 1 1 3 131 133 130 394
Expected: - 272 -

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Commonwealth Games 2010 Venues

Posted by Prem on Thursday, October 7, 2010
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Venue Sports Type
CRPF Shooting Range, Khardarpur Shooting Existing
Delhi University Rugby sevens New
Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range Shooting New
Dr. S.P. Mukherjee Swimming Stadium Aquatics Existing
Indira Gandhi Sports Complex Cycling, gymnastics, wrestling New (weightlifting, wrestling)/
Existing (gymnastics)
Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex Athletics, lawn bowls, weightlifting New (Lawn bowls)/
Existing (Athletics)
Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium Hockey Existing
R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex Tennis Existing
Siri Fort Sports Complex Badminton, squash New
Talkatora Indoor Stadium Boxing Existing
Thyagaraj Sports Complex Netball New
Yamuna Sports Complex Archery, table tennis New

Huge Commonwealth Games cover-up leads to condoms blocking drains

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The troubled Commonwealth Games in Delhi have been hit by a new problem: thousands of condoms blocking drains at the £150m athletes' village.

Games organisers have said they will work round the clock to clear the prophylactics from pipes at the accommodation blocks housing more than 7,000 athletes and officials.

Mike Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, sought to put a positive spin on the story at a news conference, saying: "If that is happening, it shows that there is use of condoms and I think that is a very positive story. Athletes are being responsible.

"If they are so active then that's very good," a spokesperson for the organisers said. "We are promoting safe sex."

One official told the local Mail Today newspaper, which broke the story, that more than 4,000 condoms had already been taken from free vending machines since athletes started arriving 10 days ago.

The condom blockage follows an outbreak of gastrocolic problems such as diarrhoea among swimmers this week. Fennell said an urgent inquiry had been ordered into whether contaminated water at the event's newly refurbished swimming pool was responsible for 15 Australian and English swimmers becoming sick.

"If there is something that is unsafe, you can't swim in that water. It's a matter we have to deal with the greatest of urgency," said Fennell, who has been criticised for his handling of the chaotic runup to the games.

The Indian organisers have insisted that water in both the main pool and the warm-up pool at the aquatic complex was tested with nothing untoward found.

"We don't know why they have fallen ill but it is not the water. Not all the swimmers have fallen sick. Maybe this group went out to eat something somewhere," she said.

A spokesman for Australia's swimming team, Lachlan Searle, said "about a half-dozen" swimmers had been affected by stomach problems. At least three Australians are thought to have gastroenteritis.

Caroline Searle, the England team spokeswoman, said fewer than one in 10 of England's 541 athletes had been affected by a "mild 24-hour stomach condition" since arriving in Delhi.

"Not everybody all in one sport has been ill. There are little pockets across all sports. The levels of mild 24-hour stomach conditions are in fact lower than we anticipated," she said. "We are not complacent as they may well rise in coming days but no athlete has so far been forced to miss any session through illness."

The England hockey team has been affected.

Crowds have continued to be thin at most of the venues but Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the local Commonwealth games  organising committee, said 125,000 tickets had been sold in recent days, promising full stands in coming days. Earlier in the week he suggested free tickets might be distributed to school children or the poor to fill seats.

The chaotic Indian preparations for the 19th Commonwealth Games sparked talk of a boycott of the event, which is thought to have cost between £3bn-£6bn to stage. Sunday's opening ceremony briefly allayed the criticism but a series of transport issues, technical malfunctions and problems with food have fuelled further negative coverage.

Distributing thousands of free condoms to athletes has been a tradition since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 athletes quickly used up the 70,000 free prophylactics, forcing organizers to supply another 20,000, while in Athens four years later the provision was doubled to 130,000. At both the Beijing Games in 2008 and the Vancouver winter Olympics in February 100,000 condoms were provided.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

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