Aerostat: The Commonwealth Games star attraction

WHAT IS the star attraction of Commonwealth Games 2010? It is not our Indian athletes or any other player or Prince Charles or other foreign dignitaries but a multi-crore showpiece,  an aerostat (helium balloon), which is going to steal the show during the Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

It is for the first time that such a massive balloon will be used for any entertainment/sporting event in India. The white gigantic helium filled balloon has been made at a cost of 70 crore rupees and  floated 10 metres above the ground inside the stadium. However, during the opening and closing ceremonies it will float 30 metres above the ground. It is filled with 20,000 cubic metres of helium gas.

The 80m by 40m and 12m high, Aerostat is not an ordinary balloon; it is unique piece of technology which will definitely attract the spectators and visitors at home and overseas. It is mounted with cameras that provide a 360-degree viewing experience so every person in the stadium can view the entire effect of the aerostat and laser projections. There will be light fixtures with mirrors, which will be fixed on the belly of the balloon, and this will emit a warm glow.
The video projection will have animation graphics, parts of the Queen's Baton Relay and many more things. It will be coordinated with the events that will take place during the ceremonies. The projection will be of high-resolution and aerostat will lift scenic elements and create dramatic effects.

Related News On >> Commonwealth Games

Indian Boxing players in Commonwealth Games 2010

Athlete	Event
Amandeep Singh	Light Flyweight 49kg
Suranjoy Singh	Flyweight 52kg
Akhil Kumar	Bantamweight 56kg
Jai Bhagawan	Lightweight 60kg
Manoj Kumar	Light Welterweight 64kg
Dilbagh Singh	Welterweight 69kg
Vijender Singh	Middleweight 75kg
Dinesh Kumar	Light Heavyweight 81kg
Manpreet Singh	Heavyweight 91kg
Paramjit Samota	Super Heavyweight +91kg

Related News On >> Commonwealth Games

Badminton players of India in Commonwealth Games 2010

Chetan Anand

Parupalli S Kashyap

Saina Nehwal

Aditi Mutatkar

Rupesh Kumar

Sanave Thomas

Ashwini Ponnappa

Jwala Gutta

V.Diju

Chetan Anand

Aparna Balan

Related News On >> Commonwealth Games 2010

Indian Athletics at Commonwealth Games 2010

Men
100 M, 4x100M
1 Abdul Najib Qureshi
2 B.G. Nagaraj
3 Krishna Kumar Rane
4 Hemant Kirulkar
5 Rahamattulla Molla
6 Shameer mon
7 Ritesh Anand
8 Manikandaraj
9 S. Sathya

200 M
1 Dharambir
2 Abdul Najib Qureshi

400 M, 4x400m
1 Kunhi Mohammad
2 Vinay Chaudhry
3 J. Premanand
4 Harpreet Singh
5 V.B. Bineesh
6 Jithin Paul
7 Bibin Mathew
8 S K Mortaja

800 M
1 Pankaj Dimri
2 P.Francis Sagayaraj
3 Manjit Singh

1500 M
1 Sandeep Karan Singh
2 C. Hamza

5000 M
1 Sunil Singh
2 Sandeep Batham

10000 M
1 Sunil Singh

110 MH
1 Siddhanth Thingalaya

400 MH
1 Joseph Abraham

3000 M SC
1 Elam Singh
2 Ramachandran

MARATHON
1 Bining L.

SHOTPUT
1 Om Prakash

DISCUS
1 Vikas Gowda

JAVELIN
1 Kashi Nath
2 Samareet Singh

HAMMER
1 Chandrodaya Narayan
LONG JUMP
1 Maha Singh
2 Ankit Sharma
3 Hari Krishnan M.

TRIPLE JUMP
1 Renjith Maheshwari
2 Amarjit Singh

HIGH JUMP
1 Nikhil Chitrasau
2 Hari Shanker Roy

POLE VAULT
1 Gajanan Upadhyay
DECATHLON
1 Bhartinder Singh
2 P J Vinod

Updates On >> Commonwealth Games 2010

Commonwealth Games: Who is responsible for the mess?

COMMONWEALTH GAMES were allotted to Delhi in 2003. In 2004, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee under Suresh Kalmadi was set up. Six years were available to the Government of India (Ministry of Sports/Sports Authority of India), Delhi government, Organising Committee and other agencies for the preparations of Commonwealth Games 2010. Now, every institution is playing the blame game and passing on the buck to others.
Who was responsible for the coordination with various agencies? Clearly, it was Ministry of Sports, Government of India and the Organising Committee under Kalmadi. The Organising Committee had coordination sub-committees for both civic and sports infrastructure. What these sub-committees had been doing for the last six years? We have to remember that all these six years prior to the Games, Congress was in power both at the Centre and in Delhi. Kalmadi is also a Congress MP.
Mani Shankar Aiyar has been crying hoarse now over the Games’ mess. What was he doing when he was sports minister? Why didn’t he resign then when he could not prevail upon Kalmadi? What is the point of shrieking now?
A group of ministers (GoM) under Union Minister of Urban Development (Jaipal Reddy) has been operational during the last five years. The Minister of Urban Development was made chairman of this GoM because CPWD, which is executing most of the infrastructure projects, is under this ministry. This GoM was also supposed to monitor the preparations for the Games. What this GoM has been doing during the last five years in the light of corruption complaints, gross delays, shoddy execution, etc. To top it all, why the Prime Minister and his overarching Cabinet Secretary and PMO could not sense the mess well in advance and take remedial actions?
Kalmadi’s Organising Committee has an executive board (governing body). Four directors on this board are from the government namely, secretary (Sports) and financial advisor from Sports Ministry, one officer each from Union Ministry of Urban Development and Delhi government. It was the first and foremost duty of this executive board to monitor the Games’ preparations and take all policy decisions for the Organising Committee’s activities. What this executive board and especially these four government directors were doing all these six years?
A number of civil and sports infrastructure projects fall under the domain of Delhi government. What Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, her ministers and her senior officers were doing all these six years?
Nation demands answer to the above questions. These questions involve national pride and huge public money. Accountability of each functionary/institution has to be fixed.

Commonwealth Games expose embedded corruption in the system

WHAT the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in Delhi have made clear is the fact that India as a nation is immersed deep in corruption and we have not changed much.

If you are a foreign delegate then don’t be surprised by the preparations, thanks to Suresh Kalmadi and his men. You will have few second rung officials welcoming you at the Indira Gandhi International airport rather sports fans, who by now have become detached from the entire event. The special Commonwealth Games taxi you will board will be your first kiss with corruption, wherein the prices quoted for thing were inflated beyond ones imagination.

Don’t forget to wear the seat belts provided in the vehicle as you have a bumpy ride ahead thanks to the roads that have been left unrepaired. While in Delhi, please be vigilant about the stagnant water and mosquitoes as you have every chance of falling sick with dengue or malaria!

It’s difficult to predict the status of stadiums as we are rushing for their completion in the eleventh hour. The patriotic people of India are being asked to put up a phenomenal show in Delhi just as Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2008.

The strong reason behind this system failure might be the appetite for wads of cash amongst the netas. Until the recent time, there was hardly a debate on the CWG 2010 in the upper house or lower houses of the Parliament.

What made them to debate this issue was exposure of corruption in some newspapers, which is a political bullet, without doubt. Secondly the complete charge of conducting these games has been assigned to a bunch of bureaucrats and semi-politicians.

I am certain that Public Private Partnership (PPP) would have been a better idea. We need a well planned systematic approach to co-ordinate the event which we have been lacking badly.

As a last take on this subject I feel we don’t have our hearts in place to host this event.
Better luck next time!

Related Articles On >> Commonwealth Games 2010

Himachal government to promote tourism during CWG 2010

IN AN innovative way to attract tourists from across the world, particularly from the United Kingdom, Himachal Pradesh has chronicled all the existing churches and cemeteries of the state in a book. This has been done by the Department of Tourism, and they wish to market and publicise the book at a large scale during the Commonwealth Games and attract tourists.

Arun Kumar, Director, Tourism said: “To attract the international visitors, a book — The Churches and Christian Cemeteries of Himachal Pradesh — is coming up listing various graves and cemeteries of the State where thousands of Europeans have been laid to rest.”

He said the Department of Tourism expects that with this document, it would invoke a desire amongst the visitors to visit the graveyards, churches and cemeteries in Himachal Pradesh as they were influenced by colonial architecture.

He said the book would be made available during the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, besides, in British and other embassies. “This document will also be available in all the tourist information centres within and outside the State,” he added.

The document has the details about the oldest cemetery in Shimla, near Oak Over, where the burial ground was opened around the year 1828 and the first grave is dated 1829. Then there is Cart Road Cemetery where Major Samuel Boileau Goad was also buried.

He was one of Shimla’s most prominent residents and owned at least 33 of Shimla’s most valuable properties including Barne’s Court, Kennedy House, the Park and Holly Lodge, besides, the details of cemeteries at Sanjauli, below St Bedes, Kanlog, Jutogh, Kotgarh and Subathu.

He said the book also had details of churches and cemeteries, memorials at Nahan, Kasauli, Kangra, Palampur, McLeodganj, Dalhousie and Chamba. Then there is a memorial to Penelope Chetwode at Khanag, near Ani in Outer Seraj of Kullu district. Penelope was the daughter of Field Marshal Baron Chedwode, who had served as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

“She remained in love with Himachali hills till her death in 1986 on a trek between Shimla and Kullu over the Jalori Pass,” informed Kumar.

Related Articles On >> Commonwealth Games 2010 , Commonwealth Games News