CGF committee gives IOA a pat

Michael Hooper, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Evaluation Committee, refused to comment whether New Delhi stands a better chance of hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games than the Canadian city of Hamilton, which is also in the fray.

"Whether you ask me directly or indirectly I am not going to give my personal opinion in this matter. The job of the evaluation committee is limited to visiting the two bidding cities, New Delhi and Hamilton, and prepare a report, to be placed before the Commonwealth Games Federation.

"We will submit our report by the end of September, and on November 13, 2003, we will come to know the outcome when 72 members cast their votes in Jamaica and decide the winner," Hooper told rediff.com in an exclusive interview in Delhi on Tuesday.

He said the members of the evaluating committee, headed by Richard McColgan, are happy with their meetings with Indian government officials and praised the efforts of the Indian Olympic Committee.

"I will give full credit to the Indian Olympic Committee headed by Suresh Kalmadi for the efforts they are making to get the Games to New Delhi," he said.

Was he satisfied with the assurances he got from the Indian authorities about the stadia and other facilities being ready for the Games?

"There are seven years between now and the hosting of the Games. We have had good meetings with the Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Shiela Dikshit, and Minister of State for Sports and Youth affairs Vikram Verma. We are confident that if Delhi gets the nod it will be ready to host the Games.

"We are satisfied with what we looked at. It is not the present infrastructure but the capacity to deliver by 2010
that needs to be assessed," he said.

He refused to respond to a question from a journalist, who asked how can India ever think of hosting big events like the Commonwealth Games when the IOA is unable to provide clean drinking water to its women's hockey team.

"We are not here to go in for issues like this one," he said.

He thanked the IOA for making the committee's stay in Delhi enjoyable.

"We had four grueling days of work in New Delhi. I must say that we enjoyed every bit of it," he added..