\n<\/p>\n
India are expected to bid for the 2036 Olympic Games but the 2030 Commonwealth Games must first cover for past mistakes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Organisers are confident they can avoid the calamities of last time when India hosts the Commonwealth Games, but there are many challenges for a country that also has Olympic ambitions.<\/p>\n Ahmedabad, in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s home state of Gujarat, was confirmed Wednesday as the venue for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n It is seen in India as a stepping stone towards the goal of hosting the 2036 Olympics, and authorities hope it will establish the world\u2019s most populous nation as a sporting destination.<\/p>\n A successful Commonwealth Games will also help erase the memories of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, which were marred by accusations of corruption and construction delays.<\/p>\n Ahmedabad already boasts the world\u2019s largest cricket stadium, a 130,000-seat arena named after Modi, which most likely will stage the opening and closing ceremonies.<\/p>\n But beyond that, huge investments in roads, subway lines and sporting facilities are needed to reshape the city of more than seven million people.<\/p>\n Barely five years until the competition is a comparatively short timeframe to get it all done.<\/p>\n Ashwani Kumar, a senior Gujarat official who looks after sport, said Ahmedabad\u2019s existing venues were capable of hosting the Games \u201cwith some modifications\u201d.<\/p>\n New arenas will also be built by \u201clate 2028 or early 2029\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very confident and we have done good homework as a team,\u201d Kumar told reporters, adding that a budget had been worked out already, without giving figures.<\/p>\n Aside from competition venues, India will need to boost infrastructure for the thousands of athletes, spectators and officials flooding into the city.<\/p>\n Hotels are expected to add thousands of new rooms, while the local airport will start construction on a new terminal next year.<\/p>\n \u201cFive years is enough for building our capacity,\u201d said Narendra Somani, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Gujarat.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, we expect the government to come up with some industry-friendly policies that would boost the outlook further.\u201d<\/p>\n Somani admitted personnel challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a shortage of skilled workers in the hotel industry in Gujarat. We will have to hire workers from other states like Assam and Punjab,\u201d he told the AFP news agency on Friday.<\/p>\n The spectre of the 2010 Commonwealth Games looms large.<\/p>\n At the time, the Games were meant to showcase India\u2019s status as an emerging global power, but headlines were instead about delays, shoddy construction and budget overruns.<\/p>\n English and Australian swimmers blamed Delhi\u2019s swimming pool for contracting a stomach virus, while some athletes complained of finding a cobra in the Games village accommodation.<\/p>\n India\u2019s national auditor accused the Delhi government of wasteful spending to the tune of at least $29m during its \u201cill-conceived and ill-planned\u201d programme to beautify the city in the run-up to the Games.<\/p>\n A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General also listed several examples of alleged rigged bidding for lucrative contracts to supply timekeeping equipment and lighting fixtures for the glitzy opening ceremony and catering services.<\/p>\n The auditors blamed the organising committee for hyping up projected revenues from the Games to an astronomical 17.8 billion rupees ($200m).<\/p>\n \u201cIn reality, the total committed revenues amounted to just 6.8 billion rupees [$76m],\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n The Gujarat government official Kumar admitted there were \u201csome challenges\u201d in 2010, but said this time was different.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all are well prepared. We are very confident that we will deliver the Games which would be remembered in years to come,\u201d said Kumar.<\/p>\n But he also added a note of caution: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to overcommit on anything, and would rather learn from the past editions of the Games elsewhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n India are expected to bid for the 2036 Olympic Games but the 2030 Commonwealth Games must first cover for past mistakes. Organisers are confident they can avoid the calamities of last time when India hosts the Commonwealth Games, but there are many challenges for a country that also has Olympic ambitions. Ahmedabad, in Indian Prime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
India\u2019s Commonwealth nightmare hangs over Olympic ambition<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"