Cheerleaders required for CWG

Spectators give mega sporting event a miss

Spectators give mega sporting event a miss

Even a rich haul of five gold and two silver medals on the second day of the Commonwealth Games could not bring in the crowds to the stadium, as empty chairs remain the order of the day.


Last man sitting: A volunteer watching the India-Scotland hockey
match at the National Stadium on Monday. Pic/MiD DAY

However, the Organising Committee (OC) claims that most of the seats on weekend are full and tickets for all the big matches are selling like hotcakes.

But a sceptical OC does not want to leave anything to chance and is planning to rope in thousands of schoolchildren and hand out free tickets to the poor to fill empty stadiums at events that paying spectators have shunned. Even the Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennell has expressed concern on the low turnout of spectators in the stadiums.

Fennell has urged the organisers to ensure that there are more spectators to cheer the sportspersons.
But OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi claimed there were big queues for tickets on Monday "up to a mile long" it was just that they did not have the booths available to sell them. "So we don't expect the problem to go on. Tickets will be sold at all venues."

"About 600,000 of the 1.5 million tickets available for the 12 days of the games had been sold and the organisers were considering letting the school children come in and watch the events in an effort to fill up the stadiums. We are working on that (providing free tickets). Steps are being taken in this direction. We are also planning to get in people from the economically weaker sections," Kalmadi said.

He brushed aside a string of problems like transport, food and security delays and said everything would be resolved within 24 hours.

There were barely a dozen spectators and volunteers who witnessed Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang claim the coveted gold medal at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. Hours later at the same venue, the scene was same when Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayyed won gold.

The Shooting Range also produced two more silver medals for the hosts. However, organisers claimed that shooting events rarely attracted attention and a very few people used to come to watch it.

The turnout at the Indira Gandhi stadium, where wrestling was matches were being held, was a little better. Ravinder Singh won the gold for India in men's 60kg Greco-Roman wrestling with the stands 30 per cent full and stood with pride as the national anthem was played.

However, boxing emerged the favourite with the Talkatora Stadium witnessing a capacity crowd. The home crowd brought the house down by cheering their lungs out as Indian boxers opened their campaign in style.
An almost packed stadium cheered lustily for every blow Amandeep and Manoj landed making it a day to remember for the Indian boxing team, which by its own admission, is not used to fighting in front of so many spectators on the very first day of a competition.

But according to OC, tickets for big matches are sold out and there are hardly any tickets available for India-Pakistan hockey match. Moreover, ticket sale of matches on weekends are good.OC Secretary General Lalit Bhanot said 40 ticket counters have been opened across the city. "Around 50 per cent of the tickets have been sold," he said.

No school or college confirmed that the organising committee have approached it for free tickets.

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