While, Spain and Germany gear up for the men’s hockey final this evening, India too kept themselves busy yesterday.
They finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) with regards to the men’s World Cup, scheduled for 2010.
The president of the FIH, Els van Breda Vriesman and Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) were ecstatic after this ‘momentous’ day and hoped the World Cup will help India arrive at the global stage once again.
But importantly, while other countries will try to win the prestigious competition in March, India will be more concerned about it being a test run for the Commonwealth Games that will take place in Delhi in October.
Not only this, the IOA has truly tall ambitions. They want to conduct test runs for all the 17 disciplines that will be staged during the Commonwealth Games.
What next?
By the looks of it, the Games have been a huge success and China can’t help but bask in the glory of the efficient manner in which they have conducted the mega event so far.
But what next? That’s the question that has already begun doing the rounds. What will happen to the spectacular facilities they built at the31 venues. Ok, some of them already existed before so it will be back to business as usual for them. But what will happen to the magnificent Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube?
The organisers claim sporting, cultural and entertainment events would occupy the venues, but there seems to be no concrete business plan in place for their utilisation. Du Wei, vice-president of the Beijing Olympic Economy Research Association claimed post Games utilizations were considered in design and planning stages, although he failed to present finer details.
“We cannot expect in the short term that all the investment will be recouped right away, that was what actually happened to many cities,”he said at a briefing.
London calling
Meanwhile, the hosts of the next Games in 2012, London can’t wait for the handover ceremony that will take place on Sunday. “With our native wit, our gift for pageantry, our fantastic ingenuity, I think it is possible that in London we will produce a truly fantastic opening ceremony and fantastic Olympic Games,” Boris Johnson the mayor of London said on Thursday.