Are the Commonwealth Games second-rate?
Posted by AlexT – 14/12/09 at 03:12 pm India is under pressure to deliver a world-class Commonwealth Games in 2010. Some commentators feel it is a waste of money, like Sharda Ugra, the Sports Editor of the respected news weekly ‘India Today’: “The Commonwealth Games are the most redundant and peculiar of sporting events.” Amid rumours that some of the worlds best athletes, like Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt, will not be competing in Delhi, we recall American Olympic champion Michael Johnson’s reflection on the 2006 event: Too many people try to put these championships on a par with the World Championships or the Olympics but they are not – never have been, never will be. Just ask the athletes, they know because they have to compete against the best in the world. I think that truth gets lost on the British media, the fans and the athletes themselves because they hardly compete outside of their country. But to have a presence on the international stage you have to compete against
