Commonwealth Games-New Delhi 2010

James B · Post by **James B** » 04 Oct 2010 16:23

Commentators on DD Sports covering the CWG are doing the one of worst job I have ever seen.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Oct 2010 16:27

seems to be very low turnout... maybe delhi wasi brf-ites can start attending? boost the team?

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 04 Oct 2010 16:37

But why did TSP blackout the event? Seriously they did that?

Gaurav_S · Post by **Gaurav_S** » 04 Oct 2010 16:43

ToI news flash

Double glory for Indian weightlifters at 2010 Commonwealth Games | Soniya Chanu wins silver, Sandhya Devi wins bronze in 48-kg category

Yeh Dil Maange Mooore..bring it on baby

Can't wait for shooters to come out and clinching gold...go India go..

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Oct 2010 17:00

Soniya just missed out on Gold which went to Nigerian athlete

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 04 Oct 2010 17:22

I got to watch that event somehow, the nigerian girl was superb, great technique. no shame in losing to her.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Oct 2010 17:30

Rahul M wrote:I got to watch that event somehow, the nigerian girl was superb, great technique. no shame in losing to her.

video highlights

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Oct 2010 17:44

india ladies playing scotland, carried live here
hockey

ended 1-1, hard fought, fast paced match with great skills on display
incredible

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 04 Oct 2010 17:54

kalmadi jokes onlee

Not a criticism of the games.

1. Games village canteen now open. Drop in for coffee, tea and snakes.

2. So many athletes pulling out could have been avoided if Kalmadi's father had pulled out in time

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 04 Oct 2010 18:43

From BBC's online coverage of CWG.

Think we all know the stories of apparent disorganisation ahead of Delhi 2010. But here's a wee tale from BBC Sport athletics statistician Mark Butler which shows India is working hard to accomodate everyone's needs efficiently. "Earlier this week I experienced an episode which demonstrated that things are not as disorganised here as wider reports suggest. The screen on my laptop failed - a disastrous development for someone currently spending up to 18 hours a day putting together all the facts and figures needed to follow next week's athletics. The same evening a brand new screen had been fitted, all done with the minimum of fuss - which certainly was not the case when we were at the European Championships last month."

amit · Post by **amit** » 04 Oct 2010 20:05

Some Games trivia:

Opening Ceremony came after just one dress rehearsal

The most remarkable part of the opening ceremony: that only one complete dress rehearsal had been held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
It took ten months to plan the show which was eventually executed by a thousand producers.

Seven thousand performers spread out over a stage weighing 500 tons. There were over a 1000 moving lights. And that centerpiece- the aerostat that cost 70 crore that presided majestically over all the music and dance beneath, reflecting the pride and culture of a nation striving to prove that it is also capable of efficiency, creativity, synchronicity.

The ceremony cost 150 crores.

Those involved with the show say even as politicians and organizers of the Games were snarling contradictions, they stayed immune to the misdeeds and their corollaries.

"We had put blinkers on... we were told just focus," said Viraf Zakaria, the Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 04 Oct 2010 20:14

both of our gold hopes in weightlifting dashed. in men's 56 kg as well, we have both silver and bronze but not the big one.

AdityaM · Post by **AdityaM** » 04 Oct 2010 20:18

^ they were equal in the 1st & 2nd try, so why did indians try for 146Kg?
do tey have to bea some cumulative score?

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 04 Oct 2010 20:20

Shooting, archery, wrestling and boxing are our main events. Any additional medals from weightlifting would be a bonus, considering the how many times WFI has shot itself in the foot recently due to drug scandals. That we even have a weightlifting team here wasn't something that was guaranteed not too long ago. I hope we can top Canada and make the top three in the medals ranking at the end - we've twice finished in 4th position behind them in the last two CWGs.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Oct 2010 20:25

AdityaM wrote:^ they were equal in the 1st & 2nd try, so why did indians try for 146Kg?
do tey have to bea some cumulative score?

i think as long as someone keeps lifting more weights, the others have to keep up and lift the same, or get knocked out, the gold goes to whoever has lifted the most, and no one else has been able to match

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 04 Oct 2010 20:48

there are two types in weight lifting, snatch and clean and jerk, C&J for short. the best figures for both are added to get the total.

the malaysian had a big lead in snatch. sukhen dey and vs rao both came very close to making the 146 kg mark but couldn't make it.

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 04 Oct 2010 20:56

AdityaM wrote:^ they were equal in the 1st & 2nd try, so why did indians try for 146Kg?
do tey have to bea some cumulative score?

Because the Malaysian had lifted 5 kg more in the snatch round. All three managed to lift 141 kg in clean & jerk. The winner is decided after totaling snatch and clean and jerk weights. In the previous games they used to hand out separate medals for snatch, clean and jerk and combined total.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Oct 2010 21:02

aussies seem to be leading the whines still - their papers are full of it. watch the boxing weigh-in problem situation, they were the first to complain and whinge, others, including england have said lets wait and see
i think its part of their national psycology to be complainers... although they think the english are the chief complainers

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Oct 2010 21:11

Pinsent follows Chanu's attempt at Gold (and explains weight lifting)

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 04 Oct 2010 23:33

Lalmohan wrote:aussies seem to be leading the whines still - their papers are full of it. watch the boxing weigh-in problem situation, they were the first to complain and whinge, others, including england have said lets wait and see
i think its part of their national psycology to be complainers... although they think the english are the chief complainers

Looks like england shipped off the "Criminally

ers" to Oz in the past. A pragmatic past soiled by present pak-o-pampering.

Kanishka · Post by **Kanishka** » 05 Oct 2010 02:01

hnair wrote:
Lalmohan wrote:aussies seem to be leading the whines still - their papers are full of it. watch the boxing weigh-in problem situation, they were the first to complain and whinge, others, including england have said lets wait and see
i think its part of their national psycology to be complainers... although they think the english are the chief complainers
Looks like england shipped off the "Criminally ers" to Oz in the past. A pragmatic past soiled by present pak-o-pampering.

No mention of the CWG opening ceremony on Sky News Australia evening news yesterday (watched by most people).
However this morning the same channel headlines reported how Australia was already ahead in medals tally.
Still no mention of the spectacular Opening Ceremony though. (Talk about selective presentation of news).

I used to think only the Pakis are afraid of India's culture and heritage. But it seems there are others as well.

Some goras in the media here know that no country can even come close to matching India's cultural heritage...and what a display it was.

OT here but hope India pulls off a miraculous victory in Cricket.

Kanishka · Post by **Kanishka** » 05 Oct 2010 02:12

Why so many events in swimming? The same athlete can participate in multiple events and there is a gold medal for each event.
Compare that to other individual sports like boxing or wrestling where body weight restrictions apply or hockey where 11 players toil hard for days for just one gold medal.

The Australians have a few good swimmers and each of them seem to win 4 or 5 medals each year. This system suits them really well.

paramu · Post by **paramu** » 05 Oct 2010 02:19

Kanishka wrote:I used to think only the Pakis are afraid of India's culture and heritage. But it seems there are others as well.

Some goras in the media here know that no country can even come close to matching India's cultural heritage...and what a display it was.

Aus's cultural shows will be played by friendly and benevIolent pirates...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-KvtAuLezY

Kanishka · Post by **Kanishka** » 05 Oct 2010 02:22

paramu wrote:
Kanishka wrote:I used to think only the Pakis are afraid of India's culture and heritage. But it seems there are others as well.

Some goras in the media here know that no country can even come close to matching India's cultural heritage...and what a display it was.
Aus's cultural shows will be played by friendly and benevIolent pirates...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-KvtAuLezY

Paramu, You should have warned. I cant stop laughing

paramu · Post by **paramu** » 05 Oct 2010 02:44

Where would you see a culture that tells children that pirates are nice people too?

Venkarl · Post by **Venkarl** » 05 Oct 2010 03:17

paramu wrote: Where would you see a culture that tells children that pirates are nice people too?

chor ka dost chor

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 05 Oct 2010 03:23

paramu wrote: Where would you see a culture that tells children that pirates are nice people too?

ah, but he is a gay pirate!

Yeah, gora mainstream has weird "culture": can't be gay or a pirate, but gay pirates are apparently ok. Infact Johny Depp made a career out of it.
It is the straight pirates that are still evil, for horror of horrors, they "impact free trade"

And of course, gays are a well known threat and hence known as "PCB Chairman Pirates". Who are we to question such wisdom?

Back to CWG, I wish Cuba was in CWG. I absolutely love their amateur boxers. sheer raaga and thaala

Gaurav_S · Post by **Gaurav_S** » 05 Oct 2010 08:11

Got a chance to read story why did two most promising Oz swimmers failed to even qualify. Sydney Daily Telegraph blamed it on pressure to perform and bad pasta these swimmers had a night before. One of the swimmer is Nick Darcy who was on top of his career before couple of years before he punched senior swimmer which apparantly landed him into trouble. This was his chance to prove how humble person he is but pasta ruined his game...

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 05 Oct 2010 08:28

Why are the stands empty for some events. Only crowd seem to have been for the aquatic ones.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 05 Oct 2010 09:30

DD was showing lawn bowling event late last night

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 05 Oct 2010 09:48

TV Asia in massa shows the daily spotlights for 2 hour or so. The women's hockey had no spectators. I was surprised to see such a poor turnout.

If they cannot fill the stadiums with spectators, should at least get the school kids to fill them.

So I gather hosting another Asiad/Olympic would be an utter waste anyways if the interest is thin. Focus on roads and rails instead for the next 20 years then.

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 05 Oct 2010 09:54

latest medal tallies and other news

http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 05 Oct 2010 10:09

Keshav the tabla maestro

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 05 Oct 2010 10:31

India Strikes Gold!

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 05 Oct 2010 10:34

Hurray!
CWG: Bindra, Narang win India's first gold

New Delhi: Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang on Tuesday bagged the gold for the men's 10 m air rifle pair's event, getting India its first gold in the 19th Commonwealth Games.
The pair broke the Games record they had set four years ago in Melbourne.
Beijing gold medalist Bindra needed grace marks to make the team for CWG 2010 ahead of Sanjeev Rajput, who had shot a score of 597 at the Pune trials in August.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 05 Oct 2010 11:45

The second gold is also from shooting

Indian women shooters Anisha Syed and Rahi Sarnobat shot second gold for India on the second day of CWG 2010.
Pair of Anisha and Sarnobat won the gold medal in 25 m pistol event.
Earlier, Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang brought the first Gold for India in 10 m rifle pair events.

Medals Tally
View all
Country G S B Total
Australia 4 1 0 5
India 2 2 2 6
Canada 1 0 3 4
South Africa 1 0 1 2
Nigeria 1 0 0 1
Malaysia 1 0 0 1
England 0 4 1 5
Wales 0 1 0 1
Scotland 0 0 1 1
Bangladesh 0 0 1 1

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 05 Oct 2010 12:59

i would like someone who better understands the media to test this hypothesis
so far high end UK papers and BBC are 'mostly' providing +ve coverage and comment
BBC has been sending out good pics, particularly the opening ceremony
most -ve comment has been coming from newspapers and channels owned by newscorp (murdoch)
i suspect that underneath this there is also an element of BBC winning global broadcasting rights and newscorp losing out which is leading to -ve media coverage
no doubt newscorp refused to pay BBC for footage of ceremony, and hence is not broadcasting/publishing it

moral of the story (amongst many others) is that GOI needs to get smarter about managing the global media

amit · Post by **amit** » 05 Oct 2010 13:18

Lalmohan wrote:moral of the story (amongst many others) is that GOI needs to get smarter about managing the global media

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

Public Relations is an alien concept in GoI circles. The lack of basic PR sense apart from the corruption and lackadaisical attitude contributed most the all this negative publicity.

First of all how the hell did they allow someone to take a picture of that toilet, and far less allow it to go to international media. Second, instead of having a single point of information, coming from a media savvy spokesperson, you had all those old farts going about and farting in public.

This led to the disaster of that hygiene comment and the Sports Ministers Monsoon Wedding comment and several others.

When the shit hit the ceiling, there should have been a crisis management group set up. The way to counter the negative publicity would have been to flood the media with pictures of the wonderful stadia, the airport, metro. Coupled with this there could have been guided tours of the complexes and the games village as well.

Instead of doing that the reaction of the babus in charge was like that of deer caught in the headlight or a young child caught with his hands in the jar. The confusion and stupid statements led to the general feeling that everything was on the verge of collapsing. If jingos here could think in those terms why blame the gora media which is in any case hard wired to think negatively about all rising nations and especially India.

If India ever hopes to stage the Olympics (and I hope that doesn't happen till at the point of time India can get at least double digit amount of gold medals from Olympics), IMO two things that need to be worked on is better project management and better public relations.

Sad to say even the Pakis are better at PR than our babus. Whether they like it or not this is the age of two minute presentations and first impressions. Unless you are good at that, even the most spectacular results (like for example the opening ceremony) is not going to get you good press.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 05 Oct 2010 13:21

^^^ paquis are masters at media manipulation and management
that's how they've got away with it for so long

amit · Post by **amit** » 05 Oct 2010 13:32

Lalmohan wrote:^^^ paquis are masters at media manipulation and management
that's how they've got away with it for so long

I would like to see better media management not manipulation. Even basic management is missing. That's what happens when you have government babus heading the PR machinery.

Whether we like it or not, brand management is fine art and that why the best practitioners get paid hefty packets.

Contrast the Incredible India campaign which was outsourced to the branding of the CWG.