Deepika, Rahul win gold as Indian archers end with 3 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals

New Delhi, October 10, 2010: The Commonwealth Games archery competition came to an end with India winning three gold medals, one silver and four bronze medals at the Yamuna Sports Complex here on Sunday.

India won gold medals through Women’s recurve team (Deepika Kumari, L. Bombayla Devi and Dola Banerjee) and individual (Deepika Kumari) and men’s recurve individual (Rahul Banerjee).

The lone silver medal came through the men’s compound team (C. Srither, Ch. Jignas and Ritul Chatterjee).

The four bronze medals came through women’s compound team (Jhano Hansdah, Bheigyabati Chanu and Gagandeep Kaur), men’s recurve team (Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai), men’s individual recurve (Jayanta Talukdar) and women’s individual recurve (Dola Banerjee).

England was the most successful team especially its domination in the compound division was pronounced. England, which has already begun its preparation for the 2012 London Olympics, failed to win a single gold in recurve division.

RECURVE

MEN’S FINAL: Rahul Banerejee is the No. 15 in the world, while Jason Lyon has made a great come back on the international scene for these Commonwealth Games. He was still a long shot entering the competition as he currently occupies No. 76 place in the world. He nevertheless qualified as No. 3. The first set was split after Lyon scored 9-9-9 and Banerjee 9-10-8. Lyon had the upper hand in the second set with 10-10-9, while Banerjee did 8-9-10. The Indian scored 9-9-10 in the third, but the Canadian kept shooting superbly with 10-10-9 and took a commending 5-1 lead in the match! Banerjee stayed alive in the fourth set with 10-9-9, while Lyon had 10-8-8 but kept a 5-3 advantage. Banerjee scored 9-9-9 in the fifth, while Lyon shot a liner 9, and 8. For second time in the match, he needed a 10 to close it but ended just out in the 9-ring. Shoot-off! It was the third shoot-off. Lyon shot a low 8, opening the door. Banerjee shot a 9 liner, enough for gold!

BRONZE MEDAL PLAY-OFF: The two archers have met only once: in Porec 2006, where Talukdar had his first big win at the international level and beating Gray on the way during the 1/8 elimination matches. Talukdar just had some trouble with his semifinal, but he started this bronze final on fire with 10-10-10. Gray was close to it with 10-10-9 but trailed 0-2. Gray tried to put pressure in the second set with a 10. He then shot a 9 and an 8 that was just “out”. Talukdar started with an 8 but recovered with a 10 and a 9. Split set; Talukdar 3-1. A 6 (and a 9-10) from the Indian in the third set helped Gray to tie the match, scoring 8-9-10. Match tied at 3-3. The level went very high in the fourth set! Both archers shot a 10. Then Talukdar shot a 9, and Gray a 10! However Talukdar shot a 10 to conclude the set, while Gray had 8 (Set 29-28). Talukdar led 5-3! Gray shot 8-9-9 in the fifth, while Talukdar started with 10 and 8, leaving it with an 8 to tie the set and win the match! He just got a liner 8. Bronze for Talukdar.

Earlier, Rahul Banerjee defeated Matthew Grey of Australia in the semifinalos 6-5 while Jason Lyon of Canada beat Jayanta Talukdar 6-0.

WOMEN’SN FINAL: Williamson is a five-time Olympian who won the individual bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. She is currently the No. 30 in the world. Kumari is 17 years old and has surged to the fourth place in the world ranking in recent month, notably with a second place at the Shanghai World Cup stage last month and a first place at the Bangkok Grand Prix at the beginning of the year. She was he cadet world champion at the Youth World Championships Ogden 2009. She won the qualifications and she is the No. 1 seed in the tournament. They have met at the World Cup stage in Antalya this year and Kumari had won.

Williamson had a shaky start with 8-8 but finished the first set with a 10. Kumari started with two 9s, letting her to get another 9 to clinch the first set. She caught a liner 9 and led 2-0. Williamson was not much better in the second set with 9-8-8, while Kumari was strong with 9-10-9 and increased her lead at 4-0. Williamson scored 9-9-7 in the third set. The young and upcoming star Kumai was brilliant with 10-10-10 to clinch her second gold medal of the Games, 6-0!

BRONZE MEDAL PLAY-OFF: The 30 year old, No. 10 in the world and No. 2 seed in the tournament Banerjee was the favourite against Subramanian, who is 27 years old, No. 67 in the world (she was as high as 28 in her career) and fifth in the qualifications. These two archers met twice before in major competitions and Banerjee won the two encounters. Nevertheless Subramanian won the first set 25-23. She could not quite keep it up in the second and third set with 8-6-9 and 2-9-10. In the meantime, Banerjee scored 10-9-8 and 9-8-9 to take a 4-2 lead in the match. In the fourth set, the Malaysian archer started with an 8. Banerjee shot a 9. Subramanian shot an 8. The Indian scored an 8. Subramanian could not put pressure with her last arrow with a 7. Banerjee shot a 9 to win the set and the bronze medal, 6-2!

Earlier, Deepika Kumari outplayed Anbarasi Subramanian of Malaysia 7-1 and Allan Williamson outshot Dola Banerjee 6-2 in the semifinals.

Press release from Indian Archery Association

Double gold for Nicky Hunt and Duncan Busby in Commonwealth Games archery

New Delhi, October 9, 2010: The English archers Nicky Hunt and Duncan Busby won their second gold medals of the week in the individual compound finals on in Commonwealth Games archery event at Yamuna Sports Complex here on Saturday. Both had won picked up gold medals from team events.

Busby dominated teammate Chris White in the final, while Seppie Cilliers (RSA) was solid all way through his bronze medal match against Shaun Teasdale (NZL).

Hunt took the Women's Individual Compound event by defeating Doris Jones (CAN) in the final at the Yamuna Sports Complex on Saturday 6-4.

Both started quickly, scoring a perfect 30 to tie the first set, before Jones broke away to win the second set 29-27 and take a 3-1 lead. But Hunt roared back, scoring six consecutive 10s to take the next two sets and head into the final set with a 5-3 lead. She kept her composure to score 29 to equal Jones score and win England's third gold in archery at the Games.

In the bronze medal match, Cassie McCall (AUS) triumphed over teammate Fiona Hyde 7-3 after she opened up a 4-0 lead after the first two sets. Hyde recovered, winning the fourth set 27-26 to take it to a fifth, before McCall surged ahead, winning the decider 29-27 to take Bronze.

Here is a recap of the matches:

The compound individual finals consist of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. The remaining eight archers of the Compound Men and Women events will compete in the final matches. In individual finals matches, archers shoot alternately up to five sets of three arrows in 20 seconds per arrow. Each set worth two points for a win, one point for a tie. The first archer who reaches 6 sets points win the match. The higher placed archer in the ranking round will decide who shoots first in the first end of each match, and then the archer with the lowest set points score will shoot first in each following end. If the scores tie, the archer who shot first in the first end will shoot first. If the tie persists after the fifth set in finals rounds, a single arrow shoot off will be shot and the athlete with the arrow closest to the centre will win.

Compound Men

Semifinal: Seppie Cilliers (RSA) vs Chris White (ENG): Cilliers did not give any room to the big white in the first two sets. Cilliers scored five 10s and one 9, while White had five 9s and one 10. Cilliers led 4-0. He opened the door a little bit in the third set with 10-9-9, and White got into it with 10-9-10, closing the gap at 2-4. The English caught a liner 10 that proved to be the difference in the fourth set: for 10-10-9 for White, 9-9-10 for Cilliers. Match was tied at 4-4! Cilliers let it go in the fifth 9-9-9, while White scored 9-10-10 to complete a comeback victory 6-4!

Semifinal: Shaun Teasdale (NZL) vs Duncan Busby (ENG): Busby took on the No. 6 in the World Teasdale in this semifinal. The English kept shooting very well with 10-9-10, while the New Zealander had 9-10-9. Busby 2-0. He continued strong in the second set with 10-9-10, while Teasdale made a little mistake (at this level) with 10-10-8. Busby 4-0. It was nevertheless his turn to commit a little mistake when he shot an 8. In the meantime, Teasdale had a perfect 30 to close the gap at 2-4. He could not quite keep it this way in the fourth with 10-9-9. Busby had 10-10-9 to secure another English man’s place, his, in the final. Busby 6-2.

Final: Chris White (ENG) vs Duncan Busby (ENG)
An all-English affair in the compound men’s individual gold final! Busby is the No. 2 seed, while White has had a great run with his matches from the No. 12 qualification rank. Both have won the team final two days ago. White started with 10-9-9, while Busby scored 9-10-10 to take a 2-0 lead. Then both had 29 points. Score was 3-1. Then White scored 9-9-10 and Busby 10-10 and... 8! Tied set, 4-2. White finished with 9-10-9, while BUSBY shot 9-10 and... 10 to clinch the match! BUSBY won 6-2 and his second gold medal of the week!

Compound Women

Semifinal: Doris Jones (CAN) vs Cassie Mc Call (AUS):
The athletes tied the first set 27-27. However Jones’ capability to score more 10s showed in the second set, which we won with 10-8-10 (28-25). Mc Call, who has made great progress in the last two years, won the third set 29-27. Match was tied at 3-3. Then Jones scored 10-9-10, while Mc Call scored 9-8-8. The Canadian was in the lead again, 5-3. The Australian could not be consistent enough and Jones cruised to victory in the fifth set, scoring 10-10-9 and winning the match 7-3.

Semifinal: Fiona Hyde (AUS) vs Nicky Hunt (GBR)
Hunt did not leave the yellow in her quarterfinal and started the semifinal on the same fashion with 10-10-10!!! She led 2-0. Hyde responded with 10-9-9 in the second set, but Hunt kept being better with 10-10-9 and took a 4-0 lead. Hyde kept fighting and got the upper hand in the third set (10-10-9 vs 9-9-9) cut the deficit at 2-4. The No. 19 in the world Hyde gave it all in the fourth set with 9-9-9, but the No. 1 in the world Hunt was unstoppable with another 10-10-10. Victory 6-2!

Gold Final: Doris Jones (CAN) vs Nicky Hunt (GBR):
Hunt is the No. 1 in the world. Jones is a great upcoming archer who won the junior world championships at Merida 2006. Hunt has three individual podiums at World Cup level this year. Jones ranked 2nd at the Ogden World Cup. Hunt earned the team gold on Thursday. Jones got silver. Hunt is the No. 2 seed of the individual competition. Jones won the qualifications last Monday and therefore is the No. 1 seed.

Both archers started the match with a perfect 30, despite some wind today coming from left to right, going North-East with around a 45 degrees angle! Jones continued with another 10. Hunt as well! Jones hit another 10! Hunt was the first one to crack with an 8. Both archers concluded with a 9. Jones led 3 set points to 1. Hunt managed to tie the match at 3-3.

In the fourth, the Canadian shot 10-9-9, while the English kept it perfect with 10-10-10 and took the lead 5-3.

Jones scored 9-10-10 in the fifth set, while Hunt started with 10-9 letting her with a 10 to shoot to tie the set and win the match. Anything less meant that Jones would have taken the set and the archers would gave gone to a shoot-off of one arrow closest to centre, where anything can happen. Hunt raised the bow, aimed calmly and hit the bull’s eye!!!! Victory 6-4 and second gold medal of the week for her.

Press release from Indian Archery Association

Indian women archers clinch gold, men fumble to bronze medal

New Delhi, October 8, 2010: All the smiles the Indians sported in the morning session after their women’s team picked up the gold medal of the Commonwealth Games’ recurve team final, disappeared in the afternoon as the Indian men’s team, a sure shot gold winner, fell to the ultimate gold medal winnerAustralia in the semifinals at 216-211 at Yamuna Sports Complex here on Friday.

This left the Indian trio of Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar, to fight for the bronze medal against England, which lost to Malaysia in the other semifinals at 217-213. The host salvaged some prestige by triumphing 221-218. Australia defeated Malaysia 219-212 in the summit clash.

The Indian women threesome of Laishram Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Dola Banerjee, stopped England 207-208 in a pulsating final. The Indians trailed throughout but turned the contest around in the final three arrows ought to speak the team members’ strong nerve.

Canada defeated Malaysia 202-192 to win the bronze medal.

In the semifinals, India had no problems in annihilating Malaysia 213-185 and England took care of Canada 208-200.

WOMEN’S TEAM FINAL: England has reached its third team final in a row and its compound men beat India for gold on Oct. 7. Great Britain, represented by Folkard/Oliver/Williamson, has met India six times in major archery events since 2004. The two countries are even with three victories each.

England had the better start with 9-8-9-7-9-10, while India scored 9-8-9-6-8-8. The Indians trailed 48-52. Bombayla/Deepika/Dola, shooting in this order, had some work ahead to come back in this game. India made some ground at the beginning of the second end with 8-9-9-9, while England had 7-8-7-8. However, India finished with 9-8, while England scored 10-10. The English still led 102-99. The Indians could not touch the 10 ring again in the third end (9-9-8-9-9-8), while England added two more 10s (7-10-10-9-8-8). England opened up a three-point advantage 154-151. India finally found its rhythm at the beginning of the last end with 9-10-9, but England kept it on track with 10-9-10. The Indian trio concluded with 9-9-10 while the English team fell apart with 9-6-8! India got a come-back victory 207-206 with the last three arrows! Silver for England, gold for India!

SEMIFINALS: The first recurve semifinal joined India and Malaysia on the field. The format was four ends of six arrows for each team. Best total score wins. The teams has three archers who rotate after each arrow and teams actually alternate with each other after three arrows. These two countries have met in the compound women’s bronze final with India emerging the winner. No wind in the venue again this morning but both teams must have been nervous as India led after the first end 50-45. The Indians were also better in the second end (53-48) to take a commending lead, 103-93! India was solid in the second half scoring seven 10s (9 in totals) to win the match 213-185.


MEN’S TEAM FINAL: These two countries have met three times since 2005 and Malaysia has won all meeting! Nevertheless the teams are close to each other in the world ranking: Australia at 15 and Malaysia at 17. (To note the bronze medallist India is No. 1 and Great Britain No. 8). Coached by 2000 Olympic champion Simon Fairweather, Australia showed they are a truly high level team in the first end scoring 9-10-10-10-9-9 (57), while Malaysia had 10-10-7-9-8-9 (53). Malaysia did a bit better in the second end 8-9-8-9-10-10 (54), but Australia kept it above with 10-8-9-10-10-9 (56). Australia led 113-107 at the half. Both teams dropped some points in the third end (52-51), but the Australians kept a good lead, 165-158. Cheng/Abdul Rahim/Ibrahim Putra finished with 10-8-7-10-10-9 for a total 212 points; good enough for silver. Gray/Masonwells/Worth scored 8-10-9-9-9-9 for 219 points. Australia is the new Commonwealth champion in Team Recurve Men!

BRONZE MEDAL PLAY-OFF: After two successive team finals for gold, these two countries had to battle for bronze this time. To note, India has met Great Britain (in fact the English team during these last few years) four times in major competitions since 2004. India leads 3-1, including two victories at World Cup stage in 2010. This time India started well with 9-9-9-9-10-9 for 55 points, while England scored 9-7-9-8-9-8 for 50. The English made some ground in the second end with 8-10-10-9-9-10 (56), while the Indians scored 9-9-8-9-10-9 (54). India 109-106. Terry/Wills/Godfrey put pressure in the third with 9-9-10-10-10-10 (58 points), but Banerjee/Rai/Talukdar responded with 10-9-9-10-10-9 (57) to keep a two-point advantage, 166-164.


SEMIFINALS: India had a difficult start this afternoon with the recurve men’s semifinal. A 6 in the first and no 10s put the team in a bit of disadvantage. Australia started really well with 10-8-9-9-10-10 and led 56-50. India was better in the second end 10-8-9-9-9-10 (55 points) but Australia also scored 55 points, 111-105. Another 6 by India in the third end did not help the team’s cause, but Australia also dropped a few points. The Australian lead was cut by four points, 161-157. The Indian trio finished with 9-10-9-8-9-9 (54) for a total of 211 points. The English team did not let go with 10-9-10-8-9-9 (55 points). The No. 4 seed Australia upset the No. 1 seed India 216-211!

Press release from Indian Archery Association

Indian archery teams in semifinals

New Delhi, October 6, 2010: As expectedly, the Indian men’s and women’s teams moved into the semifinals of the recurve and compound sections of the Commonwealth Games archery competition at Yamuna Sports Complex here.

The men’s team, comprising Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai, will play a strong Australian side for a place in the final on October 8. The women’s team, consisting of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Dola Banerjee, will play Malaysia in the semifinals on the same date.

The other semifinals of the men’s section will be contested by England and Malaysia while in the ladies’ side it will be between England and Canada.

India beat Sri Lanka 213-205 in the men’s quarterfinal match. In other matches, Australiadefeated Canada 218-216 points; Malaysia beat Bangladesh 218-201 and Engand outplayed Cyprus 218-209.

In the women’s section, India and England, the top two seeds, got a bye into the semifinals in a six-team competition. In other quarterfinal matches, Malaysia defeated Singapore 205-200 and Canada shocked Australia 205-201.

In the men’s first round results, Sri Lanka beat Scotland 199-197, Bangladesh beat Mauritius 218-176 and Cyprus outpointed Northern Ireland 216-213.

Indian team also made it to the semifinals of the compound section and will play South Africa. The Indian men’s team, comprising Ritul Chatterjee, Ch. Jignas and C. Srither, defeated New Zealand in the quarterfinals 226-225 and outplayed Trinidad & Tobago 224-219 in the pre-quarterfinals. The other semifinal will be between England and Australia.

The women’s side, consisting of Bheigyabati Chanu, Jhano Hansdah and Gagandeep Kaur, will play top seed Canada in the ladies’ semifinals. India managed to overcome Australia 227-220 in the quarterfinals. The other semifinal game will be between England and Malaysia.

In other quarterfinal matches, Canada beat Wales 223-222; Malaysia beat Scotland 227-216 and England beat New Zealand 227-221.

Indian Archery Association press release

Indian archers Rahul, Deepika enter recurve Q-F

New Delhi, October 5, 2010: Indian top seeds Rahul Banerjee and Deepika Kumari led most of the favourites into the quarterfinals of their respective recurve sections of the Commonwealth Games archery competition at the Yamuna Sports Complex here.

But the news from the compound section was not encouraging as all the Indian archers lost except teenager Chittibomma Jignas who made it to the pre-quarterfinals. He will meet S.H. Cilliers next.

Banerjee, in red hot form, will be challenged by Mat Masonwells of Canada for a place in the semifinals while Jayanta Talukdar will clash with veteran Simon Terry of England. Tarundeep Rai, seeded 13th, fell to Cheng Chu Sian of Malaysia 4-0.

Deepika will meet Alexandra Feeney of Australia in the quarterfinals while Dola, the second seed will play 10th ranked Alan MacDougall of Canada. Laishram Bombayla Devi fell to Alexandra in the earlier round 2-4.

On the second day of the archery competition, only individual elimination rounds were gone through.

Press release from Indian Archery Association

Indians dominate recurve qualification rounds

New Delhi, October 4, 2010: Indian recurve archers dominated the ranking round of the XIX Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 archery events at the Yumuna Sports Complex. Rahul Banerjee and Jayanta Talukdaroccupied the top two positions after returning scores of 679 points and 676 after two rounds of 36 arrows over a distance of 70m.

Canada’s Jason Lyon was third with 674. India’s third entry Tarundeep Rai finished at 13th with 647 points.

The Indian men’s team took the top spot with a total of 2002. Eagland followed next with 1971 and Malaysia was third 1971. The second and third teams were separated after a tie-breaker.

Cadet world champion Deepika Kumari of India topped the women’s ranking round with a total of 662 points. Veteran Dola Banerjee was second with 658 and Naomi Anne Folkard of England was third with 642. India’s third entry Laishram Bombayla Devi was ninth with 624.

In the team event, India topped with 1944 points. England was second with 1904 and Australia was third with 1841.

This being the first time the competition is held in new format, all the top scores will be considered as records for future Games.

Press release from Indian Archery Association

Karmakar rewrites history to win bronze in 50m freestyle S9 event of Commonwealth Games

Bangalore October 6, 2010: Top ranked Indian para-swimmer Prasanta Karmakar rewrote history by winning a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle S9 category of the Commonwealth Games at the S.P. Mukherjee Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.

With this win, Prasanta became the first Indian ever to win a medal in aquatics at the Commonwealth Games. He was also the first Indian to win a medal in aquatics at a major competition, since Khajan Singh at the 1986 Asian Games.

Starting the finals with the fourth fastest time, Prasanta pulled off a spectacular performance finishing with a personal best time of 27.48 seconds, creating a new National record in the process.

Prasanta finished 2.15 seconds shy of first placed Australian, Matthew Cowdrey and 0.78 seconds short of second placed Simon Miller. However the real challenge for Prasanta was to hold off expected medal winner Benjamin Austin, who pushed him all the way leading to a nail-biting finish. Thanks to a perfect start Prasanta held his nerve and managed to stay ahead by out-swimming the mighty Australian. His perfect rhythm in the pool bagged him the Bronze medal and this achievement will definitely be considered the biggest result for India on Day-3 of the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Press release from GoSports Foundation

Sports Ministers congratulate India for spectacular opening ceremony of Commonwealth Games

New Delhi, October 4, 2010: The 5th Commonwealth Sports Ministers meeting was held here under the Chairmanship of Dr. MS Gill, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports on the sidelines of XIX Commonwealth Games.

Apart from Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary General, the Ministers and delegates from 39 Commonwealth countries and observers from 8 countries attended the meeting. Michael Fennell, President, Commonwealth Games Federation, Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman, Organising Committee, Commonwealth Games, 2010, David Howman, Director General, WADA, Chetana Kohli of UNICEF and Dr Bruce Kidd, Chairman Commonwealth Advisory Body of Sports attended the meeting as Special Guests.

Sports Ministers congratulated the India for the spectacular opening ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games, and its gracious hospitality in bringing together 71 nations for the Games.

The Fifth Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting discussed the key contribution that sport and physical activity can make to the realisation of the Commonwealth goals of democracy and development, as well as the Millennium Development Goals. Ministers agreed the importance of ‘mainstreaming’ sport in all appropriate government policy and programmes, to achieve these ends.

Ministers also received reports from the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace on its working group on children and youth; the World Anti-Doping Association on its efforts to strengthen the culture of health and fairness in Commonwealth sport; and the Commonwealth Games Federation on the Commonwealth Games.

Resolutions

Sports Ministers affirmed their conviction on the importance of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) as set out in previous reports and communiqués, especially those of the 2008 meetings of Commonwealth Sports Ministers, and Commonwealth Youth Ministers.

They commended the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport (CABOS) for its commitment, advocacy and advice.

They requested the Commonwealth Secretariat to explore ways to ‘mainstream’ SDP within the programmes of the Youth Affairs Division (YAD); and to explore ways to ‘mainstream’ SDP into the work of other Commonwealth Secretariat Divisions and initiatives, and the planned Commonwealth Partnership Platform Portal (CP3) with special emphasis on Gender Equality and integration of Youth, Sports, Health and Education Policies.

Sports Ministers agreed to strengthen the 'mainstreaming' of SDP within their own governments. They requested the Commonwealth Secretariat to prepare a guide to mainstreaming, for the sixth Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting in London in 2012.

They also agreed to participate in a process to develop and agree upon appropriate priorities, targets, strategies and mechanisms for Monitoring and Evaluation in SDP, by the sixth Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting in London in 2012.

They requested the Commonwealth Secretariat to take the lead in this process, and, to this end and within resources available, to collect base-line, country-by-country data on participation in sports, and to conduct regional and other meetings for the purpose of identifying priorities and drafting targets.

They affirmed that member countries would contribute staff time and appropriate resources where needed.

They resolved unanimously that all national sporting bodies should adopt internationally accepted good governance principles, as Sports development is a public service. Ministers further emphasized that transparency and accountability by adopting good governance principles would be the appropriate way to secure and protect the autonomy of sport.

They encouraged the Commonwealth Games Federation to deliberate on how it can make a significant, sustainable contribution to SDP.

They also encouraged all Commonwealth governments to accept, access, approve, ratify and implement the UNESCO Convention Against Doping in Sport.

Sports Ministers thanked and commended the Government of India for providing the resources for the continuation of the position of the Commonwealth Sports Development Adviser in the Commonwealth Secretariat for the period 2010-2013, and expressed the hope that such an arrangement will be continued by host governments of the future Commonwealth Games.

They agreed to meet again in the margins of the Olympic Games to be held in London in 2012.

Source: Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

Museum of wheels provides glimpses of Commonwealth Games

Patna, July 17, 2010: Commonwealth Express, a museum on wheels, showcasing the history of Commonwealth Games and India’s achievements in it arrived at Patna Junction on Wednesday. The 11-coach train halted at Patna Junction for two days before leaving for Gaya.

The train museum has also put on display the models of stadiums being prepared for the XIX Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi from October 3 to 14.
Hundreds of sports enthusiasts including students of different schools rushed to the platform number 9 of Patna Junction to watch the exhibition.
The history of the Games showcases through posters while an electronic model with blinking lights displays the journey of the Queen's Baton from England to India covering Commonwealth countries.

Shera, the mascot of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games was seen everywhere.

Photos: Aftab Alam Siddiqui