London: Ahead of their much-anticipated
meeting to sort out the vexed issues, 2010 Games Organising
Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi today had an informal chat
with Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Michael
Fennell with both the sides showing willingness to resolve the
disputes.
Kalmadi and Fennell met on the eve of the Queen's Baton
Relay even though the "formal" meeting between the duo is
likely to take place tomorrow after the Relay is launched by
Queen Elizabeth II.
Asked if the CGF and OC had resolved issues that had them
at the loggerheads, Fennell said, "We always have issues to
resolve but we are talking."
CGF and OC have been waging a public battle over Delhi's
preparation for the 2010 Games with the organisers drawing
flak for lagging behind schedule.
Fennell, who was in Delhi earlier this month for CGF
General Assembly, had flayed the OC for lagging behind
schedule and had announced that an independent Technical
Review Panel would be set up to monitor Delhi's progress.
The OC, however, was not happy with the proposal and
Kalmadi bluntly shot down the idea, saying there was no need
for another monitoring panel since the CGF Coordination
Commission was already there to periodically assess the
progress.
Kalmadi was also unhappy with the role of CGF Chief
Executive Mike Hooper, whom he described as an "impediment" to
the organisation of the event and wrote to Fennell, asking him
to remove the New Zealander from the OC headquarters.
Kalmadi in fact asked Hooper not to come to the OC
headquarters, claiming the CGF official had misbehaved with a
member of the staff there.
Fennell, however, threw his weight behind Hooper and also
made it clear that he would go ahead with the Technical Review
Panel as well.
Fennell said right now, the focus, however, was on the
Queen's Baton Relay.
"The baton and its journey are not only symbolic in many
ways but is also more than that as it enables so many more
people to be a part of the Games (even before it begins). It
is very important for all of us," he said.
"This is the longest Baton Relay as it covers 190,000km
in all nations of the Commonwealth and every state in India,"
Kalmadi added.
Also present at the occasion was star sportspersons
Abhinav Bindra, Kapil Dev, Sania Mirza, Milkha Singh, Vijender
Singh and Sushil Kumar.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009, 00:22