Wizards of the Oz comes to help Delhi Commonwealth Games

New Delhi, July 29 (UNI) Sandy Hollway was the man behind the Sydney Olympic success while John Harnden was the Melbourne Commonwealth Games mastermind and the duo are here to lend their expertise as Delhi braces to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

A five-member Australian delegation met with the officials from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Sports Ministry, Delhi government and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over the last two days and shared their experience of hosting the high-profile Games Down Under.

Mr Harnden, CEO of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, said he remembered the excitement when India won the 2010 bid.

''Melbourne Games wasn't just a sports event, rather an amalgam of sports and culture and India made a substantial contribution there with their participation. The Indian performance in the closing ceremony was a taste of things to come and I'm sure in 2010, Delhi and India will show the world what it's capable of.

''We met a large number of people over the last two days and hope they benefit from our experience,'' he said.

Sandy Hollway, the CEO of the Sydney Olympic Games, also felt India made a strong impact with the closing ceremony programme in Melbourne and was happy with the progress made so far.

''India got its basic right and they should take it as an opportunity to create a Brand Delhi, just like the way we created brands out of Sydney or Melbourne. India is already talk of the time, in everone's mind and I think this is a great opportunity,'' he said.

IOA Prsident Suresh Kalmadi thanked the delegation for sharing their experience.

''We have learnt a lot from both Sandy and John. We had a full de-briefing session yesterday, during which we discussed our volunteer programme, operational part of the game, broadcasting, civic and sports infrastructure, social impact of the Games and tourism with them.

''We got some idead from them about the public transport system and other minute details,'' he added.

''We also realised that we would have to outsource many things because that would be much cheaper,'' he said.

He also announced that Channel 9 and BBC have already expressed interest to broadcast the event.

''Both Channel 9 and BBC have shown interest. But Dordarshan needs to improve its produciton quality and we have requested Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi to either upgrade the exisisting DD infrastructure or enter tie-up with private houses,'' he said.

The IOA chief also underlined the commercial aspect of the Games and announced forming a Business Club India, a fallout of the association's 2000 Memorandum of Understanding with the CII.

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