Indian Hockey Women’s Team leaves for Commonwealth Games

With less than a fortnight left for the commonwealth games to start in Glasgow, the Indian women’s hockey team today left for Scotland today. Commonwealth games will start on 23rd of this months and the Indian female hockey team will have sufficient time left to accommodate themselves to the conditions there and get the necessary preparations done.

Indian team have left the country on a high with recent win over Malaysia (6-0 series whitewash). The first match, female hockey team will play against Canada on 24-July. The other teams they will play include New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa. Trinidad & Tobago hockey team got the entry to this year commonwealth games after Pakistan team didn’t send the hockey teams.
In the last commonwealth games the team was unable to make it to the next round of semi-finals but this year team is focused on making it to the finals. The coach Neil Hawgood and the captain Ritu, both are very positive about the team fitness and form this time.

News about Men’s hockey team: Sardar Singh has been retained as captain of India Men’s hockey team for the commonwealth games.

Our best wishes to both the teams. 

Who would grab maximum medals in Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Now its less than 100 days for the 2014 Commonwealth Games to start and I'm excited who will top the points tally this time. In the 2010 commonwealth games there were held at New Delhi, India the toppers in point table were Australia (177), India(101), England (142) and Canada (75).

Australia, England has been consistent performers in Commonwealth game, but the hosts India were the surprise package as they get the best ever performance in the games history. Now we all have to see if it was only the home advantage or really the standards of the games and athletes in India is improving.

As per my opinion this time India can slip out of top 5 whereas Australia, Canada and UK would manage to be in top 5. Maybe South Africa could be a surprise entry to the top 5.

Lets wait for the games to start and we'll get to see the winner of Glasgow Commonwealth Games soon.

Indian Festivsal Season & Queens Baton Relay

"We look forward very much to bringing the baton and sharing our excitement and enthusiasm for the Commonwealth Games with the people of India next week, as planned" This is the message from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Committee however Queens baton relay might face some problems in Delhi due the festival season.

The baton is schedule to visit India next week and then continue the journey to around 71 participation nations. The baton contains queens message which she will read on the opening ceremony of the games. The hand written message read by her majesty, the queen marks the opening of the Commonwealth games.

The Indian authorities have already told the commonwealth representative about the inability to hold the baton relay in Delhi, which coincides with the major Hindu festival called Dushehra. Dushera is celebrated with great job in India. It marks the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana, this day there can be traffic problems as people come out to see the fireworks held throughout the country.

Taking the immediate steps, the 2014 Commonwealth Games organisers  in Glasgow have already sent a team to India. The team is given the task to avoid any potential issues with the Baton Relay.

Sounds like this baton relay problem might be resolved by the organisers and IOA however another problem Glasgow commonwealth if facing that rumours are there that Gambia might withdraw or not participate in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth Success Story - Athelete still waiting for promised job

It really feels sad to post a story like this. But I've to post this to bring the truth of the commonwealth games preparation, facilities given to the athletes and how false promises are made to take the credit or for vote bank politics in India.

This story is of a women athlete who won a gold medal in the 2010 commonwealth games, held in New Delhi, India. The name of the athlete is Anisa Sayyed from Pune. She won 2 gold medals in the shooting competition. On her winning two gold medal the then Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra promised her a Class I government job.

But in the last three years, there is no progress in this matter, despite being several communications made with concerned authorities.  The shooter is currently without a job yet preparing for the 2014 commonwealth games to be held at Glasgow along with some other international sporting events.

I hope that the concerned authorities will fulfil the promises made and the athlete can better focus on her training stuff etc. rather than requesting for job.

2014 Glasgow commonwealth games competition is not as easy as 2010 for India

India achieved the record second position in the medals tally in the 2010 commonwealth games that were held in New Delhi, India. This was the first time India won so many medal in the games history, however it'd be difficult for India to repeat this success in the 2014 Glasgow competition.

India is expected to get around 30 to 50 less medals this year. Reason for this is that many of the games that India won gold, silder or bronze medals are not included in the games this year. This means that there will be a serious impact on the overall medal tally for India.

Games that are excluded this time:

•  archery
• Greco-Roman wrestling 
• pair shooting
• Individual shooting events are less 

However this just sounds like an excuse for a country of more than 100 millions population. A country must be competitive to win each and every competition they particiapte and not only the ones they won medals previously or regularly.

My suggestion to Indian authorities is to stop wondering about what has already happened and could not be changed. Just focus hard on the sports person, provide them the training etc and get them ready for 2014 Glasgow commonwealth challenge.

My best wishes for all the teams and sportsperson representing India in Glasgow commonwealth games. 

Meet Glasgow Commonwealth Games Mascot Clyde

Glasgow Commonwealth Games mascot called Clyde is now one year old and this Mascot will officially represent the face of the 2014 commonwealth games. Chances are there that for next few months till the tournament will start and end you can see the Clyde mascot all over Scotland and over print media, television and internet.  Same for the case for New Delhi Commonwealth games held in 2010 where Shera the official Mascot was seen all over India, specially Northern part of the country.

As I told Clyde is one year old and unlike other babies Clyde has been busy whole year spreading the word about the games.  Image below shows one such promotion for Clyde.

To know more about Clyde visit http://mascot.glasgow2014.com  or watch the video below:

Women’s Boxing all set to debut at Commonwealth Games 2014

Women’s boxing is gaining popularity from some time and I am sure soon we’ll have women’s boxers getting popular like Ali, Tyson and maybe someday Hollywood actress feature in movies similar like the Rocky Series of Sylvester Stallone.

In the coming commonwealth games to be hosted in Glasgow the women’s boxing event will be featured for the first time. This means that after the London Olympics all the female boxers from various countries will get another chance to show their talent & boxing prowess.  The success of the boxing event in the London Olympics has played a major role in the Commonwealth Games Federation granting the approval for the games to be included for the first time in the history of the commonwealth games.  Players will compete in the three weight categories.

I am excited to see the pretty faces showering punches at each other.

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Progress

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will definitely break one record of being the commonwealth games event to hold highest number of medal event. There will be total of 256 medal events and include 17 sports. 17 sports included might have some from the previous commonwealth games excluded and new sports included. The major sporting event will be wrestling, athletics, badminton, aquatics, judo, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens,cycling, gymnastics, hockey, shooting, squash, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, boxing, and power lifting.  Archery and tennis are not included this time.

Interestingly the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games  will also be the biggest sporting event in the history of Scotland as well. During the 11 days of the event, Scotland and Glasgow will be center of attraction for all sports channels, papers, magazines and online media etc.

Commonwealth Games 2014 in the News

Its still quite a lot time left for commonwealth games to start making it large in media. Around 6-8 moths before the event we will start hearing news about Glasgow commonwealth games all over media (print, tv, radio and online etc.). So far there isn't much hype in the media about Glasgow commonwealth games but last year common wealth games are still in the highlight due to large amount of corruption done in the hosting country India at that time. Main criminal in that case is Mr Suresh Kalmadi. I'll not take you off topic by talking about a cause i.e a worry for almost al countries in the world.

Let me quickly summarize you about what's going on in the news for commonwealth games:

1. Sarah Kelly the teenage international runner from Great Britain has recovered from the injury and is expected to make a comeback in the commonwealth games to be held in Glasgow. According to her coach Liz McColgan she is fully fit and training hard for the comeback.
2. Its rumored that the security costs for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games may cross the budget approved by the Scottish Parliament. Scotish government has already once increased the security budget from £373m to £524m, but the new budget suggest that this may need to be increase further.
3. Atos which is one of the leading international IT company has been named one of the sponsor of the Commonwealth Games 2014. Information about the same can be found at Atos website as well.
4. This is not a news but an update or reminder for you that games will be held in July and August 2014

Glasgow commonwealth games 2014 Venues

Venues for the 2014 commonwealth games to be held in Glasgow has been
finalised. Games will be playes at 4 different location across the
city of Glasgow. The four locations has been selected so as to make
sure that organisors can get the full use of cities infrastructur for
the mega sporting event. Also its beleived this will help the common
wealth games 2014 run smoothly and offer sports representatives and
tourists experinece the diversity and enjoy their stay during the
event.

The four selected locations are:
1. East end
2. South side
3. Satelite Locations
4. West end

The commonwealth games village in being built in the East end which
also includes Glasgow Green Hockey Centre Celtic Park, Tollcross
International Swimming Centre and Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy
Velodrome. The South side cluster will include Ibrox stadium, Hampden
Park and Cathkin Braes Country Park.

In the Satellite Locations players and visitors can experince the
luxury offered by Royal Commonwealth Pool, Strathclyde Country Park
and Barry Buddon Shooting Centre. Whereas the West end cluster for the
Glasgow commonweath games 2014 will have Scotstoun Sports Campus, SECC
Precinct and Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Centre. Scotstoun Sports Campus
will be used for Squash and Table Tennis competitions and will be
upgraded by the games to have two courts for Squash (glass walled) &
twenty TT tables.

Countdown to Glasgow commonwealth games 2014

Its now less than 1000 days for the opening ceremony of Glasgow commonwealth games 2014 and the construction works is creating lots of job opportunities there. Construction work will include £150 million accommodation facility for athletes and sport officials. £100 million Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome is also near completion. All these project have been awarded to Scottish firms which are creating jobs for architects and civil engineers in the country.

Also there is a great news to the people in Sri Lanka, yes the country has won the bid to hosts has got a boost as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth confirmed Sri Lanka will host its next summit in 2013.

Glasgow 2014 digital game competition

As mentioned in the previous post about digital game concept, students participated with great enthuaism and the winning design came from William Rountree a 21 year old student from County Armagh . His game titled "Your Moment" make him get the 2014 GBP equivalent to 3222$ and also he gets the opportunity to work with professional games development firm 4JStudios who won the contract to transform his winning concept into a working game.


"I still can't quite believe I actually won but I have had an amazing experience working with the team at 4JStudios and seeing my design develop, change and become a reality." Those are the workd of the winniner William Rountree



Read more about this are http://www.glasgow2014.com/blog/digital_game.aspx

No Update - Commonwealth Games 2014

Its has been log time since my last post Beach volleyball included for 2014 Games and I never made a post after that. Its not like that I've been not recieving any updates on the commonwealth games or I've been keeping very busy to update this blog. Its around three years left for the commonwealth games to start and I think the interest for the new games will start increasing and increasing as time will move on.

Interesting news is that my top posts widget for this blog in now not showing 2010 commonwealth games related post, seems craze for the commonwealth 2014 is now begining.

I'll keep you updated on news about the progress in Glassgow.

Glasgow 2014 Commonwelath Games Village face marathon eviction battle

Grandmother loses marathon eviction battle with Glasgow 2014 Games this was one of the headlines for the news of a women who lost the legal battle to remove her from the property, which is to be demolished for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. Initially she was offered £30,000 and the ammount was raised to £90,000 still the woman argued and no agreemetn was reached. Read the complete article on this story at http://www.scotsman.com/news/Grandmother-loses-marathon-eviction-battle.6736086.jp

Scottish Human Baton on relay for 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Yes, similar to quenns baton relay, the Scotish cyclist Sean Newall is all set to visit all the participant countires of the 20th commonwealth games to beheld in Glasgow in 2014. He begain the Journey in early 2010 and his cycling tour is expected to be completed in two years time spread across six spans.

He started from Glasgow and reached New Delhi, India a day before the closing ceremony of 2010 commonwealth games. After that he headed towards Singapore, Australia.

You can keep a track of this human baton at the website www.thecommonwealthchallenge.com

Who will host Commonwealth Games 2018?

I've been posting about updated of 2014 commonwealth games to he held in Glasgow. Preparation for the games and the committee is making slow and steady progress in this regard. Like you can see in the previous posts:

• Commonwealth games Delhi 2010 to Glasgow in 2014
• Glasgow Commonwelath Games 2014 - City Council fund aims to create 1,000 jobs
• Commonwealth Games 2014 launches online game competition to students

I wish there will be no mess up of things like what happended in Commonwealth games held earlier this year in Delhi, last time finishin of thigs was something that had whole particip[ating teams in deep concern. Much importat thig than the timely preparation is the corruption, perhaps Glassgow administration and organising comitte be full of honest people with no greed for money.

Now comming to the matter, the host for 2018 commonwelath games is still not decided and the two finalist for this competion are Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia or
Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Perhaps this will be decided withing next few months. I see strong chances of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia getting the chance to host the games. I'll keep you updated on which country will get the chances and other updated from the Glassgow 2014 commonwealth games.

Commonwealth Games 2014 launches online game competition to students

All the online games developers has the golden chance to win £2,014 in cash. Yes this is true the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games has offered students to participate in competition to develop an online game for 2014 commonwealth games. Both the winner and runners up will get award of £2,014. But only the winner will get the chance to develop a game alongwith 4J Studios (a game development company). The developed game will appear on the Glasgow 2014 website. It is planned to launch the game around the summer and we can see many upgrades in the game later.

In the meantime one more global competition ICC Cricket world cup is begining and you all can catch updates about the event at http://icccricket.blogspot.com/

Glasgow Commonwelath Games 2014 - City Council fund aims to create 1,000 jobs

The Commonwealth Jobs Fund seeks to help 18 to 24 year olds who have been out of work for more than six months.

It will be open from January next year until July 2012 and will pay up to £6,500 towards each new job created.

Priority will be given to employers who pay a "living wage" of £7 per hour and private and third sector organisations with fewer than 250 people.

The initiative aims to contribute to the legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
It follows the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative, which the city council said had "provided places for hundreds of Glaswegian school-leavers in 2010".Under spend
The scheme was officially launched by council leader Gordon Matheson at the 13th annual State of the City Economy Conference.

He said: "The £7m that we are investing today is available thanks to the private sector's commitment to the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative.

"Thanks to the way you enthusiastically stepped up to the plate and invested your own money in taking on almost 600 apprentices in 2010 alone, the council's own budget for the scheme was significantly under-spent.

"Having saved us that money, we are now pleased to be redirecting it back to you through the Commonwealth Jobs Fund."

Councillor Matheson said the authority was sending a message that to unemployed young people that they would not be abandoned.

News Source: BBC News Scotland

Come again commonwealth games in 2014

Like the opening ceremony the closing ceremony of 2010 Delhi Commonwealth games were excellent. There were some exciting performances by Army men bands, students, singers. Australia topped by winning most number of medals whereas India and Canada were among the number 2 and 3 spot respectively.
Next commonwealth games will be held in 2014 at Glasgow, Scotland. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and will host the event for 11 days from 24 July to 3 August 2014. Unlike games village in Delhi, Glasgow will have Athletes Village in Dalmarnock from where all the major venues are not more than 20 mins drive.

Below is the list of games for the 2014 commonwealth games:
* Aquatics
o Swimming pictogram.svg Swimming
o Diving pictogram.svg Diving

* Athletics pictogram.svg Athletics
* Badminton pictogram.svg Badminton
* Boxing pictogram.svg Boxing
* Cycling
o Cycling (road) pictogram.svg Road
o Cycling (track) pictogram.svg Track
o Cycling (mountain biking) pictogram.svg Mountain

* Gymnastics
o Gymnastics (artistic) pictogram.svg Artistic
o Gymnastics (rhythmic) pictogram.svg Rhythmic

* Field hockey pictogram.svg Field hockey
* Judo pictogram.svg Judo
* Bowling pictogram.svg Lawn Bowls
* Netball pictogram.svg Netball
* Rugby union pictogram.svg Rugby sevens
* Shooting pictogram.svg Shooting (Small Bore Rifle, Full Bore Rifle, Pistol and Clay Target)
* Squash pictogram.svg Squash
* Table tennis pictogram.svg Table Tennis
* Triathlon pictogram.svg Triathlon
* Weightlifting pictogram.svg Weightlifting
* Wrestling pictogram.svg Wrestling

India willl also hold one more event next year and that event is ICC Cricket World cup 2011. You can catch live action od 2011 cricket world cup at http://icccricket.blogspot.com/search/label/cricket%20world%20cup%2020011

We will also keep you updated on the progress of next commonwealthgames like qualifying games, progress at Glasgow etc. Keep on visting blog later or you can subscribe to the RSS feeds for direct updates.