By V.Vijayalakshmi, IANS,
Pune : The chaos on the opening day of the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) here forced the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi to admit that organisationally a lot needs to be done to organise mega events.
A busy Kalmadi was seen running around, taking stock of various venues at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City, Balewadi, the official venue of the Games.
Kalmadi, who is also the Chairman of CYG, seemed a little concerned over the organisational aspect of the Games.
“The air-conditioning broke down at the shooting range, similar incidents have been happening at various other venues. The CYG is a trial run and we will make sure such things do not happen at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi,” said an embarrassed Kalmadi.
The Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennel also seemed concerned. He told reporters that the Games seem technically sound, but what concerns him is the organisation part of it.
“Even as the official rights for the covering the event have been given to the Public broadcasters, we can still see various Indian channels taking live shots of the event, this is completely against the ethics of the Games,” lamented Fennel.
Kalmadi on the other hand reiterated that such details will be taken care of at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Some foreign athletes on the other hand seemed pleased with the arrangements at the various venues.
Aqilah Binte Sudhir who won the women 10 meter Air Rifle said: “The shooting range is excellent, it’s of Olympic standards. However, the air-conditioning broke down so we were not able to practice for the first two days.”
Murrey Middleton, a 15-year-old shooter from Falkland Island felt the best part of the games is the Indian curry. “I love the food here, every day one gets to eat a new thing away from the regular pizzas and salads.”
However, some athletes expressed concern over the water situation at the games village. “The taps suddenly went dry in the middle of the night,” said an athlete, who did not want to be identified.