Sports Minister satisfied with CWG preparations

Union Sports Minister M S Gill on Monday inspected the 2010 Commonwealth Games venues in New Delhi and expressed satisfaction at the pace of preparation for the quadrennial sporting extravaganza.

Gill visited the construction sites at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where both the inauguration and closing ceremonies are scheduled, and a swimming pool complex coming up at the Tal Katora Stadium.

"I came here to see preparations and also had thorough discussions with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials and the engineers. I can assure you that these two stadiums will be technology and engineering marvels," Gill said.

"The organising committee officials, engineers and all the others are fully motivated towards the timely completion of the work. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also spoken to the engineers who are fully focused on staging a world class event," he added.

The CWG OC has drawn flak from different quarters for the tardy preparations with the Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell issuing a warning that the Games could turn out to be a "partial failure" if the pace of work was not sped up.

But a confident Gill assured that there would be enough time to hold the test events at the venues before the Delhi Games.

"Fennell has raised concerns about it but the work on the preparation of venues is going fast. By early next year, I think, it will be completed and then test events would also be organised here," Gill said.