New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) Of the 17 disciplines at the 19th Commonwealth Games, only 13 figure at the Olympic Games.
Four disciplines, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens and squash are non-Olympic events. These four are part of the Oct 3-14 Games because they had their origins in the United Kingdom and are popular in Commonwealth countries.
The 13 Olympic events to be played in the Games are – aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, shooting, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.
Archery, cycling, shooting, table tennis, tennis and wrestling are optional sporting events for the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).
From the 2014 Games onwards, hockey, netball (women), and rugby sevens (men) will be core sports in the CGF sports programme.
In Melbourne, 16 disciplines were part of the Commonwealth Games. Triathlon, which was a part of the Melbourne Games, has been left out of the Delhi Games.
Tennis will be part of the Commonwealth Games for the first time, while archery has been included for the first time since 1982. Wrestling makes a comeback after missing the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Ace Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar, who won the bronze at the Beijing Games, said if wrestling was a part of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, India, which finished fourth, would have been among the top three.
‘Now with wrestling back among the disciplines at Delhi 2010, we wrestlers are determined to bag a lot of medals for India. I was disappointed to miss competing in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Being the title winner at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships, I was a strong contender for a gold medal if wrestling had been part of Melbourne 2006 Games,’ he said.
In Delhi, athletics, weightlifting and lawn bowls will be hosted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, which is also venue for the opening and closing ceremony. The Thyagaraj Sports Complex will host net ball and wrestling, and cycling competitions will be held at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.
Aquatics will be held at the S.P. Mukherjee Swimming Stadium. The Talkatora Indoor Stadium will host boxing matches. The hockey tournament, both men’s and women’s, will be held at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium while Siri Fort Sports Complex will host squash and badminton events.
The Yamuna Sports Complex will host table tennis and archery while Delhi University will host the rugby matches. Shooting events will be held at the Karni Singh Shooting Range and tennis will be hosted at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex.
