Crowds giving Delhi Commonwealth Games a miss

[third eye]

The CWG OC should consider allowing school children to watch for free & give them a meal as well. After all their schools have been shut thanks to the CWG.

New Delhi is a city that unlike Mumbai, Kolkatta & Chennai does not shut down for religious festivals. It is unlikley that a Delhiite will go to watch during weekdays unless its a great match.



BBC News - Crowds giving Delhi Commonwealth Games a miss

Organisers of the Commonwealth Games in India say they are concerned about the lack of crowds, with the competition now in its second day.

TV pictures beamed around the world have shown competitors in virtually empty arenas in Delhi.

The organising committee said it was thinking of giving away free tickets to help swell the crowds.

The run-up to the Games was beset by complaints about sub-standard facilities.

Concerns were also expressed about security, and the non-attendance of a number of leading competitors. The event has also been dogged by serious allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

Correspondents say the lack of spectators may be because it is not very easy to buy tickets, although heavy security at the stadiums has also been a deterrent.

Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell told a news conference in Delhi that many venues had been nearly empty on the opening day of the Games.

"A number of venues do not have lots of spectators," Mr Fennell said. It is "one area which causes us concern", he added.

Mr Fennell said a number of "operational issues" had also come up and daily meetings of various groups were being held to sort them out.

"We met this morning and went through a lot of issues like transport, security and accreditation.

"There were issues to deal with and we assigned those issues to people to correct and we expect them to be corrected during the course of the day."

Organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who was booed by the crowd at Sunday's opening ceremony, said ticket booths had been opened at every venue to make it easier to purchase tickets.

"There were problems, some of the ticket stalls were not put up, but all the stalls are up now at all the stadiums," he said. "The situation has been rectified."

 

[Crypto]

Organisers of the Commonwealth Games in India say they are planning to give away free tickets to fill empty arenas.

TV pictures beamed around the world have shown competitors in virtually empty venues in Delhi.

Organisers told a news conference in the capital they hoped to increase attendance through a ticket giveaway to children and the underprivileged.

The vacant venues problem is the latest to hit the Games, preparations for which were plagued by setbacks.

Correspondents say the lack of spectators may be because it is not easy to buy tickets, although heavy security at the stadiums has also been a deterrent.



"We are working on the children from schools, already steps have been taken in that direction," said the Games's Delhi organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who was booed by the crowd at Sunday's opening ceremony.

Organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi was jeered at the opening ceremony


"And also from the low level of society, we have been distributing a lot of tickets, that we are doing," he said, in the organisers' first news conference since the Games opened.

Mr Kalmadi said booths had been opened at every venue to make it easier to purchase tickets.

"There were problems, some of the ticket stalls were not put up, but all the stalls are up now at all the stadiums," he said.

Mr Kalmadi made an embarrassing gaffe when he said that "Prince Diana" had attended Sunday's opening ceremony, the Associated Press news agency reports.

He quickly corrected himself and identified Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, as the attendees.

Lady Diana died in a car crash in 1997. She was the ex-wife of Charles, who is the heir to the UK's throne and the person who opened the Games.

Commonwealth Federation Games president Mike Fennell told Tuesday's news conference that many venues had been nearly empty on the opening day of the Games.

"We are working with the organising committee on that and they themselves are very conscious of the situation as to how those venues can be filled in the days to come," he said.

Preparations for the event were overshadowed by complaints about sub-standard facilities, concerns over security, and non-attendance by leading competitors. There have also been claims of corruption and mismanagement.

On Monday, there were report of problems with the weigh-in scales for the boxing competition.

Athletes and coaches were upset as the scales gave incorrect readings, forcing some boxers to make desperate attempts to shed weight.

An organising committee official said the problem had now been "rectified".

 

[Spring Onion]

I guess in sub-continent Cricket and one or two more games are more popular.


why crowd is missing here ?

 

[prototype]

Swimming witnessed good crowd,but that was the only exception,i today watched a glimpse of Pakistan's hockey match against ???(i dont know),the stadium was completely empty

 

[Spring Onion]

Swimming witnessed good crowd,but that was the only exception,i today watched a glimpse of Pakistan's hockey match against ???(i dont know),the stadium was completely empty

must be women swimmers

 

[RobbieS]

Guess, Delhities dont have a taste for sports other than cricket. I plan to check out the Badminton, Hockey and Rugby 7 events.

 

[Spring Onion]

Guess, Delhities dont have a taste for sports other than cricket. I plan to check out the Badminton, Hockey and Rugby 7 events.

Hockey matches will draw big crowd only when it reaches semis besides Indo-Pak match if there is any .

 

[prototype]

must be women swimmers

irrespective of male or female swimming is attracting attention,i think more crowds will start to appear one Rugby 7 and track and field events start

 

[Enigma]

i wonder if the organizers wud now pay for the spectators to fill the stadia.

very sad to see the empty benches indeed.

 

[anurag_singh]

4th Gold for India. Sanjay Singh in wrestling.

 

[Enigma]

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Australia 8 8 4 20
2 India 4 4 2 10
3 England 2 5 4 10
4 Malaysia 2 2 0 4
5 Singapore 2 0 0 2
6 Canada 1 0 3 4
7 Scotland 1 0 2 3
8 South Africa 1 0 1 2
9 Nigeria 1 0 0 1
10 New Zealand 0 1 1 2
10 Wales 0 1 1 2
12 Bangladesh 0 0 1 1
12 Sri Lanka 0 0 1 1
12 Trinidad and Tobago 0 0 1 1
- Anguilla 0 0 0 0
- Antigua and Barbuda 0 0 0 0
- Bahamas 0 0 0 0
- Barbados 0 0 0 0
- Belize 0 0 0 0
- Bermuda 0 0 0 0
- Botswana 0 0 0 0
- British Virgin Islands 0 0 0 0
- Brunei 0 0 0 0
- Cameroon 0 0 0 0
- Cayman Islands 0 0 0 0
- Cook Islands 0 0 0 0
- Cyprus 0 0 0 0
- Dominica 0 0 0 0
- Falkland Islands 0 0 0 0
- Gambia 0 0 0 0
- Ghana 0 0 0 0
- Gibraltar 0 0 0 0
- Grenada 0 0 0 0
- Guernsey 0 0 0 0
- Guyana 0 0 0 0
- Isle of Man 0 0 0 0
- Jamaica 0 0 0 0
- Jersey 0 0 0 0
- Kenya 0 0 0 0
- Kiribati 0 0 0 0
- Lesotho 0 0 0 0
- Malawi 0 0 0 0
- Maldives 0 0 0 0
- Malta 0 0 0 0
- Mauritius 0 0 0 0
- Montserrat 0 0 0 0
- Mozambique 0 0 0 0
- Namibia 0 0 0 0
- Nauru 0 0 0 0
- Niue 0 0 0 0
- Norfolk Island 0 0 0 0
- Northern Ireland 0 0 0 0
- Pakistan

 

[compak]

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total

- Pakistan

What makes you so much happy dude?

 

[gogbot]

Is it really that surprising the Media spent the last month bashing the games.
Some justified.
Other just not.

Why would anyone be enthusiastic about coming.

Apparently some people were even turned away from the games, for one reason or another.

Also the ticket stands have not been set up at all events , so those who have not come with a ticket already purchased could not buy a new one on the spot.

I mean even the tennis was not full. Which is odd , Tennis has fair following.

But the success of the games really depends on the teli audience so as long as people are tuning in it should be alright.

People might start turning up if they watch it on teli and realize they can still get tickets. But really keep in mind this is the first event of its kind in India , naturally the following is very small right now. It will pick up if people just watch the games.

 

[Enigma]

What makes you so much happy dude?

cant u see 0 0 0 0 ?

hope they will win something by the end... even srilanka managed to clinch a bronze medal. whats wrong with Pakistan dude ? y is it lagging soooo behind??? whom do u blame for this ? (few more days to go BTW)

 

[Enigma]

cant u see 0 0 0 0 ?

hope they will win something by the end... even srilanka managed to clinch a bronze medal. whats wrong with Pakistan dude ? y is it lagging soooo behind??? whom do u blame for this ? (few more days to go BTW)

LIKEWISE even we suck at Olympics compared to china, hope we have already taken steps to do better in 2012 ?