Delhi 2010
Delhi 2010
The vibrant city of New Delhi, home to 14 million people, will host the Commonwealth Games in 2010. This will be the first time India has hosted the Games and only the second time the event has been held in Asia (Kuala Lumpur in 1998 was the first).
Delhi is the capital city of India and is rich in culture and history. It stands on the western end of the Gangetic Plain and is bordered by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. There are two main districts of the city, Old Delhi the capital of Muslim India between the mid 17th and late 19th centuries with its historic sites, mosques and monuments and New Delhi, the imperial city created by the British Raj with its imposing government buildings and tree lined avenues.
The dates for the Games are 3 - 14 October 2010, inclusive of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Weather wise the city experiences an October mean temperature minimum 17.2 degrees centigrade and maximum 31.3 degrees centigrade with humidity ranging from 31 to 78% for the October and November months.
The Delhi Games Village is to be constructed as a low rise medium development on a 40 acre site in the heart of the capital with a possible capacity for 8,500 athletes and officials. Existing and new stadia will be used to house the following sports:
Archery Aquatics Athletics Badminton
Boxing Cycling Gymnastics Hockey
Lawn Bowls Netball Rugby 7s Shooting
Squash Table Tennis Tennis Weightlifting Wrestling
In addition, 15 events will be contested across 4 Para-Sports, for elite athletes with a disability, on the inclusive Sports Programme: Athletics, Swimming, Powerlifting, Table Tennis.
Delhi won the right to host the 2010 Games by defeating the Canadian city of Hamilton by 46 votes to 22 at the CGF General Assembly held in Montego Bay in November 2003.
The Indian city of Pune hosted the 3rd Commonwealth Youth Games from 12 - 18 October 2008 and saw the following nine sports on the programme; Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling.
History of the Games
With the exception of 1950, Northern Ireland has been represented in every Commonwealth Games and have the distinction of achieving medal success at each and every one. Lawn bowls (Watson & Rosbotham) and athletics (Thelma Hopkins) providing the first gold medals for the province in 1954 and lawn bowls and shooting providing silver medals in Melbourne in 2006.
For more information on Northern Ireland's History at the Commonwealth Games and for Games records follow the link to the CGF website.
Future Games
The 2012 Commonwealth Youth Games were moved forward a year so that they would not clash with London hosting the 2012 Olympics.
It was announced at the CGF General Assembly that Glasgow won the bid to host the 2014 Games.
