By IANS
New Delhi : Trained to be winners in battles, nearly 5,000 military personnel from 89 nations will compete for the 1,076 medals that will be up for grabs at the Military World Games (MWG), the biggest multi-sport international event of 2007, to be held at Hyderabad and Mumbai October 14-21.
Being held under the aegis of the Conseil International du Sport Militaire (CISM) this will be the fourth edition of what is the biggest sporting extravaganza after the Olympics. The MWG is also the biggest sporting event India has ever hosted.
“The ambassadors of the armed forces of the participating nations will sportingly achieve CISM’s underlying mission of promoting peace through friendship,” a defence ministry spokesman said Friday.
“At the same time, this will not take away the highly competitive element of the games, which will be contested as fiercely as any other event, albeit in a spirit of military excellence, camaraderie and espirit-de-corps” the spokesman added.
Toward this, the MWG organisers, led by the Indian army vice chief Lt. Gen. Deepak Kapoor, are approaching the conduct of the event with a game plan “that is no less in measure, magnitude and scale than any elaborate war plan,” the spokesman pointed out.
“The planning and execution so far bears the ubiquitous stamp of military precision, procedures and doggedness, all in pursuit of the successful conduct of the event,” he added.
The CISM president, Brigadier General Gianni Gola of Italy, is more than happy with the arrangements being made.
“We are very happy with the procedures and progress of the organization,” he said after visiting the venues at Hyderabad and Mumbai.
“It is for the first time in the history of CISM that a new member country has been able to construct new infrastructures for the games,” he added.
A MWG host country normally gets eight to 10 years to organise the event. India did it in two years, the event having been allotted only in 2005.
“In a short span of less than two years, we have achieved a great deal,” said Commodore S.C. Joshi, secretary general of the MWG organising committee.
The venues of the various sporting competitions in the military garrisons in and around Hyderabad and Mumbai are being readied on a war footing and are at various stages of completion.
Between them, the two cities will host 13 disciplines. These include athletics, handball, volleyball, football, judo, boxing, wrestling, swimming & diving, shooting, triathlon, parachuting, and sailing.
There is also the unique military pentathlon that entails obstacle running, obstacle swimming, a cross-country run, shooting and grenade throwing.
An exhibition polo match is also slated during the MWG.
Major General Anil Chait, commander of the Indian Army’s Bison infantry division and other brigade commanders in Secunderabad, Mehdipatam, Golconda are overseeing the preparations for the games at Hyderabad.
The Indian Navy’s Flag Officer Maharashtra Area (FOMA) is responsible for the arrangements for the sailing and triathlon events at Mumbai.
The CISM was founded in 1948 and India signed up in 1999. The organization now has 128 member countries, with Botswana being the latest to join.
The MWG debuted in Rome in 1995 and were hosted in 1999 by Zagreb in Croatia and in 2003 by Catania in Italy. Brazil will host the 2011 edition.