Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Reached South Africa

New Delhi, India- The Ministry of Tourism organized an Incredible India road show in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday. The event coincided with the passing of the Queen's Baton to promote the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in New Delhi.

Ten double decker buses were wrapped in Incredible India images and flagged off by M.Mashabane, Minister of International Relation and Cooperation, Government of South Africa along with Vikram Doraiswamy, Consul General of India and T.S. Darbari, Joint Director General, Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee.

This event was followed by presentations on Incredible India, the Commonwealth Games, a taste of Indian, music and dance.

Mashabane complemented on this mega promotion and spoke highly of India- South Africa relations and India's tourism products.

More than 200 people from various walks of life were present at the event.

Meanwhile, prior to the event at Johannesburg, legendary Archbishop, Desmond Tutu became the Baton bearer when the Baton Relay 2010 Delhi had reached Bloemfontein in South Africa.

The Queen's Baton had been received at the airport by Dan-Kgothule, Minister of Sports and Executive Mayor with representatives from ministries of sports and culture.

After the staging of cultural performances, the Baton was handed over to the executive mayor for the relay in Bloemfontein where it saw the participation of about 300 baton bearers and enthusiastic response from hundreds of citizens.

Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow

Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow

The 20th Commonwealth Games in 2014 will be held in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The winning city was announced by the Commonwealth Games Federation on 9 November 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Games will run for 12 days from 23 July to 3 August 2014. It will be the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland, although the country previously hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986 in Edinburgh.

Commonwealth Games 2014 will welcome 6,500 athletes and officials from 71 countries. There are also hundreds of thousands of people welcomed to the host city of the Commonwealth Games. It will begin on 23rd July 2014 with the opening ceremony at Glasgow’s Celtic Park and August 3rd 2014 will be the last day of ceremony at Hampden Park, Glasgow.

Several mostly played in Commonwealth countries, will be on display for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games including 17 sports: badminton, weightlifting, lawn bowls, hockey (men & women), athletics, aquatics, boxing, rugby 7s (men), squash, netball (women), cycling, shooting, wrestling, gymnastics, judo, table tennis & triathlon.

About the City Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands. A person from Glasgow is known as a Glaswegian, which is also the name of the local dialect.

Games Venues

Hampden Park: The main venue for athletics and for the closing ceremony would be held on Hampden Park, Scotland's National Football Stadium. Celtic Park would be used for the opening ceremony. Hampden Park is one of an iconic place for Scots. It is the home ground of the national football team, which will be transformed for the period of the Glasgow Games for the track and field events.


Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Complex: Kelvingrove Park is situated (close to the SECC) in the Glasgow's West End, which has already five bowling greens installed for competitive use. A complete improves and renovation of the park is ongoing, and the park is also able of holding events like triathlon and hockey. For the latter events, Glasgow Green could be a possible alternative venue.

Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre: Scotland's north bank of the River Clyde, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) would provide several multipurpose arena style venues including the planned Scottish National Arena for events such as gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, and judo. It will be also hosting related entertainments events for the period of the games.


Ibrox Stadium: Ibrox Stadium (in the South Side,) is the considered venue for the rugby sevens tournament. The another outdoor venue in the city, such as Pollok Park or the military Dechmont ranges in Cambuslang will be held the shooting competition. For the famous Glasgow Rangers Football Team, Ibrox Stadium is the home.

Dalmarnock: Neighboring to this, a possible site for an athletes' village has also been recognized in Dalmarnock. The village would be planned to create 6,000 homes and officials in 2,500 residential units and leave a legacy of renewal in this deprived district of the city.

Tollcross International Aquatic Centre: Already one Olympic standard 50 metre swimming pool owned by Tollcross International Aquatic Centre. The pool and the facilities would be extensively refurbished, and a second 50 metre pool would be added for the Games' aquatic events.


Important Links
Glasgow City Council
Glasgow Airport
Glasgoe Museums
University of Glasgow

Rajnath wants beef off Commonwealth Games menu

The Commonwealth Games organising committee now has to worry not just about meeting the deadline, but also the menu card for sportspersons and delegates.

Former BJP president Rajnath Singh has written to Games organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi that his party opposed beef on the menu.

“Cow is considered sacred in India. This thought has been integral to our cultural ethos for ages. No wonder, even the founding fathers of our Constitution also advocated a ban on cow slaughter (Article 48),” Singh said in his letter.

“The Commonwealth Games have become an important event where we should use every possible opportunity to highlight our cultural values and age-old traditions. By removing beef from the menu card, the organising committee would not only empathise with the popular sentiment but also save the Games from agitations and other possible controversies,” he added.

He also says that the BJP-dominated Municipal Corporation of Delhi has already passed a resolution to this effect. “Rules for importing such items will be suitably altered for the purpose. If imported, beef will only be for the guests and sportsmen and not for general consumption,” said Rakesh Mehta, chief secretary, Delhi government. The organising committee has not committed itself on the matter.

The politics of beef is not new in the country and Rajnath appears to be hoping that by adopting this pet Hindutva cause, he could hold on to some of the party’s old agenda.

“With Nitin Gadkari determined to move ahead with a development-oriented agenda, rather than a Hindutva one, this is Rajnath’s way of signalling the RSS that for him at least, these pet causes are important,” said a senior BJP leader.

Commonwealth of Nations, History & Members

The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states, all but two of which were formerly part of the British Empire. The member states co-operate within a framework of common values and goals as outlined in the Singapore Declaration. These include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism and world peace.

The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an intergovernmental organisation through which countries with diverse social, political and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status. Its activities are carried out through the permanent Commonwealth Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General; biennial Meetings between Commonwealth Heads of Government; and the Commonwealth Foundation, which facilitates activities of non-governmental organisations in the so-called "Commonwealth Family". The symbol of this free association is the Head of the Commonwealth, which is a ceremonial position currently held by Queen Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth II is also the monarch, separately, of sixteen members of the Commonwealth, informally known as the Commonwealth realms. As each realm is an independent kingdom, the Queen, as monarch, holds a distinct title for each, though, by a Meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in 1952, all include the style Head of the Commonwealth at the end; for example: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. Beyond the realms, the majority of the members of the Commonwealth have separate heads of state: thirty-three members are republics, and five members have distinct monarchs: the Sultan of Brunei; the King of Lesotho; the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (or King) of Malaysia; the King of Swaziland; and the King of Tonga.

History
While not all current members were once British colonies, the Commonwealth is generally considered to be the successor to the British Empire. In 1884, while visiting Australia, Lord Rosebery described the changing British Empire, as some of its colonies became more independent, as a "Commonwealth of Nations".

Conferences of British and colonial Prime Ministers had occurred periodically since 1887, leading to the creation of the Imperial Conferences in 1911. The formal organisation of the Commonwealth developed from the Imperial Conferences, where the independence of the self-governing colonies and especially of dominions was recognised. The Irish Oath of Allegiance, agreed in 1921, included the Irish Free State's "adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations." In the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, Britain and its dominions agreed they were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations." These aspects to the relationship were eventually formalised by the Statute of Westminster in 1931 (Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland had to ratify the statute for it to come into effect; which Newfoundland never did and Australia and New Zealand did in 1942 and 1947 respectively).

Members
The Commonwealth comprises fifty-four of the world's countries (including one currently suspended member), across all six inhabited continents. The members have a combined population of 2.1 billion people, almost a third of the world population, of which 1.17 billion live in India and 94% live in Asia and Africa combined. After India, the next-largest Commonwealth countries by population are Pakistan (176 million), Bangladesh (156 million), Nigeria (154 million), the United Kingdom (61 million) and South Africa (49 million). Tuvalu is the smallest member, with 12,000 people.

The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about 31,500,000 km2 (12,200,000 sq mi), or about 21% of the total world land area. The three largest Commonwealth nations by area are Canada at 10,000,000 km2 (3,900,000 sq mi), Australia at 7,700,000 km2 (2,970,000 sq mi), and India at 3,300,000 km2 (1,270,000 sq mi).[16] The Commonwealth members have a combined gross domestic product (measured in purchasing power parity) of $10.6 trillion, 66% of which is accounted for by the four largest economies: India ($3.3 trillion), the United Kingdom ($2.3 trillion), Canada ($1.3 trillion), and Australia ($800 billion).
Source: Wikipedia

BBC Still to Agree 2010 Commonwealth Games Rights

The BBC has admitted that it has yet to reach an agreement to broadcast the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi despite claims in India that rights deals with Australian and UK broadcasters had exceeded its revenue target.

Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of Delhi's local organising committee, said last month that it had earned £37.5 million - £12.5 milion more than its original target - after striking "good deals with broadcasters in Australia and Britain."

Australian broadcasters' Network Ten and Foxtel announced two years ago that they had secured TV rights for Delhi in a shared deal. However the BBC, who traditionally covers the event, said: "Negotiations are still ongoing and have yet to be finalised."

Two weeks ago a senior Whitehall source told the Daily Telegraph that there was "virtually no chance" that Team England team would be sent to India following security fears over the Delhi event.

The BBC refused to comment over fears that the broadcaster may be waiting for assurances from Commonwealth officials that the squad would be travelling in September before committing to any rights deal.

In November, Scottish first minister Alex Salmond attacked the BBC for failing to commit to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Glasgow’s bid was primarily based on the BBC being host broadcaster but a £20 million hole in their budget now looms large as a result of the recommendation to drop the Commonwealth Games from Britain’s protected list of television's free-to-air sporting events.

Usain Bolt to Skip Commonwealth Games 2010

Sprint Sensation Usain Bolt would not be seen in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games 2010 slated to take place in the Indian capital New Delhi later this year.

The much hyped 2010 Commonwealth Games according to reliable resources would miss Olympic champion and world record holder Usain Bolt. His manager Ricky Simms had said that fastest man on earth till date is working arduously for 2011 World Athletics Championships and would most probably miss the bus for October games.

Addressing a query related to Bolt’s participation in the Commonwealth Games, Ricky told Sunday Mail, London "It's now looking unlikely Usain will be going to the Commonwealth Games. His priorities have to lie elsewhere. First and foremost is his four-year plan leading up to the next Olympics, which is exactly what he did prior to Beijing in 2008".

Elaborating more on the issue Ricky gave reasons behind this move “"The timing of the Commonwealth Games is the issue here. By the start of October, Usain will have needed to have rested and then began his pre-season which, as every athlete knows, is massively important". Simms explained.

On Usain’s future engagement, Ricky said "It's started well enough with what he achieved at last summer's Berlin World Championships, but this year is all about the Diamond League and a continuation of his preparation for 2012. He also views the World Championships in 2011 and 2013 as crucially important".

Usain Bolt’s non participation will definitely be a huge jolt to hundreds of sports lovers who were planning to witness his thundering speed and tiger like leapin athletics at 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth Games Federation dismiss reports of sub-standard security

The Commonwealth Games Federation has condemned reports security would be substandard at the Delhi Games, insisting the comments were "ill-informed" and that security planning for the Games was on track.

A Sydney Sunday newspaper quoted Australian security consultant Lloyd Bromfield saying he was alarmed by New Delhi's lack of preparation and this left athletes at risk of terrorist attacks. CGF president Michael Fennell said its own security adviser, a rival Australian company Intelligent Risks, had assured him the Indians had dedicated appropriate resources to providing a secure environment for the Games.

"The CGF regards the safety and security of the Games, for athletes and spectators alike, as being of paramount importance and of the highest priority," Fennell said.

"IR has vast Commonwealth, Olympic and multi-sport games experience and, importantly, has a detailed knowledge of what is actually being done with security for Delhi.

"A number of recent media reports on Games' security come from comments by those who have not worked on any aspect of security planning for the Delhi 2010 Games, and do not have any serious knowledge of the detailed plans across all aspects being put in place by local authorities."

Fennell said the Delhi organising committee had appointed internationally respected Indian government and police officials to head security operations.