Success of CWG is a matter of national honour

The Commonwealth Games is just two months away and with every passing day, the pressure is increasing on the organising committee to put the infrastructure in place to ensure that the Games are successful.

Many believe India is not prepared to host the Games, but sports minister MS Gill assured every one by stating in Parliament yesterday that come October, India will be ready to host the Games.

"Have faith in India. India will get there," Gill said. However, not many are ready to believe the sports minister's words. And the doubters are justified in their stance considering that almost all venues are nowhere near completion it seems the big bosses are all busy fighting corruption allegations which are surfacing everyday.

"I don't know whether what MS Gill is saying will happen or not. But as a sportsperson, I will be happy if all the preparations are over much before the Games. Since the last few days, we have only heard negative things about the arrangement for the Games. The CWG is no more a sporting event. It has become an event for the entire nation," said table tennis stalwart Kamlesh Mehta.

Olympian Merwyn Fernandes also felt that getting things organised has now become a matter of national pride.

"I don't think it's important whether we have faith in MS Gill's words or not. The whole world is watching us and we need to make sure that India's image is not tarnished due to lack of preparations. This is now about the pride of the country we live in," said Fernandes, who was part of the gold medal-winning hockey team at the 1980 Olympics.

Though the preparations suggest that things might not be ready in time, former skipper of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team, Amol Muzumdar, believes things in India fall into place at the last minute and the same could happen here.

"I have full faith in people who are organising such a big event. I am certain things will go as planned. This is not the first time India is facing such a situation while organising international events. There will always be certain things that do not fall in place till the last minute. It happens in every country so we should not worry about it too much," Muzumdar said.