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Sydney Olympic chief lauds Delhi's progress

By Staff

New Delhi, Aug 2: The 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee got a pat on its back with the Sydney Olympics organising chief expressing satisfaction at the progress of preparations for the mega event to be held in the Capital.

''I am going back from this visit with the impression that the planning of the Games, construction of venues and training of athletes are going in the right direction,'' Sandy Hollway, Chief Executive Officer of Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) said here.

''I have had talks with Indian officials including Mr Kalmadi and I think there is a certain buzz of confidence around for the successful hosting of the Games,'' he said at a workshop co-organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Australia India Council.

Earlier, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi said in his opening remarks that the preparations for the Games were moving ahead on target and all the agencies and stakeholders were working in tandem.

''Delhi will become a truly international city after the successful holding of the Games. The mega event will change the image of the city in terms of sporting as well as physical infrastructure,'' he said.

Mr Hollway agreed with Mr Kalmadi and said, ''Delhi is already a great city as we all know, but it will prominently feature in the sporting landscape of the world, just like Sydney did after the 2000 Olympics,'' ''I see a sparkling commonewealth Games being held here in 2010.

''The legacy of the Games will be the huge sports infrastructure it will leave behind, better civic infrastructure, tourism development and enouraging more youngsters to games and sports,'' Mr Hollway, who had served as a diplomat in Pakistan, USA and Germany, said.

He, however, was cautious in his recation to Mr Kalmadi's claim that India would finish second in medal's satanding in the Games.

''We will see it on the field during the competition,'' was all what he said.

Mr Kalmadi had lamented the lack of money from the governemnt for training of athletes and hiring of foreign coaches.

''We are allocated 2000 dollars for spending on foreign coaches, which is quite insufficient. We have to find money by ourselves,'' he said.

UNI

Story first published: Thursday, August 24, 2017, 15:52 [IST]
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