OC not crashing by BCCI's refusal: Kalmadi

CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi on Saturday brushed aside BCCI's refusal of an Rs 100 crore donation towards hosting of the Games, saying the OC would not crash following Cricket Board's snub.

The Indian Cricket Board today rejected OC's request at its Working Committee meeting in Mumbai.

"OC is not going to crash by BCCI's refusal," he retorted when asked about the Cricket Board deciding against the donation on a request by the OC.

Kalmadi said he thought the BCCI would be interested in supporting Olympic sports since cricket was a "prime sport" in the country.

"Cricket is prime sport in the country. I thought BCCI would want to support Olympic sport and so I wrote a letter to them. It was one of 100 letters written to different bodies and agencies. Ours is a revenue neutral Games. So we have to see the commercial aspect also," he explained when asked why he wrote the letter to BCCI at the first instance.

Kalmadi expressed happiness that the OC would be able to pay back the money borrowed from other sources, including the government, as they are expecting more revenue than targetted.

"We have to pay back all the money we borrowed. We have taken Rs 900 crore so far from the government and we have now collected Rs 700 crore and more are coming in the next two months," he said.

"Our sources of income are from sponsorship, TV rights sale, merchandise, ticketing and some donation. We are getting $50 million from TV rights, exceeding the targetted $30 million," he explained.

"A Canadian company will telecast the Games live for the first time in their country. For the first time, United States has also shown interest in the Games and so we have also got some money from the broadcasters. Nearly three billion people will watch the Games," said Kalmadi.