Brekkie Boy

The CWG Federation has a lot to answer for and the buck has to stop with them. The fact is Delhi isn't ready - it's no good saying the athletes village will be finished for the Opening Ceremony when athletes are arriving a fortnight earlier. Add to that legitimate concerns about the construction - and it's a disaster, and a disaster of the CWG's own making. We all know the thinking behind choosing Delhi to host the event, and in theory that was a good move - but these problems have been highlighted time and time again over the last couple of years yet the CWG Federation have obviously done nothing to ensure we avoided the outcome we're now seeing. It might have been embarrassing, but cancelling or postponing the games months ahead of their scheduled appearance is far less damaging PR wise than the prospect of them being cancelled - or at least boycotted by many athletes, if not nations - now, and would at least have given them time to come up with a plan B (I've seen Singapore suggested considering they had venues and infrastructure in place for the YOGs). As selfish as it may seem, the CWG Federations loyalty is to the games, not the host city - and if the host city was failing time and time again to meet specified deadlines, the CWG Fed shouldn't be afraid to act in the interest of the Commonwealth Games. The whole organisation needs to grow up and realise this isn't an "amateur" event, but one they need to look after and treat professionally for it to prosper. Host city choices are obviously limited especially when big cities aren't putting their names forward, but the CWG should be looking at solutions to that problem - for example a partial downsizing or a more effective bidding process (bidding for two games at once for example). They also need to sort the calendar out to stop athletes withdrawing due to the excuse they're out of season. Games in March or October are ridiculous - surely a May to September window can be worked out. It's bound to clash with some international events, but it is in October anyway - so compromises have to be made. Basically though although Delhi is obviously far from blameless for this situation, the problems are one of the CWG's own making - and risk killing off the games for good.

So have TV deals been struck other than in Australia where GO! and Fox Sports will be covering it. (Fox Sport's and Nine (who run GO!) have the Olympic rights).

Turns out they got New Delhi and New York mixed up then!

It would be like when England didn't qualify for Euro 2008, with comments on how they'd have won the thing if they were actually there.

Finally after months of denying it was a done deal confirmation today the BBC are looking to broadcast the Commonwealth Games as usual. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/commonwealth/

Something they could do without in the run up to Delhi, though IMO it looks a rather isolated incident. http://www.news.com.au/world/eight-hurt-in-bomb-blasts-at-indian-cricket-stadium/story-e6frfkyi-1225855037277

Playing football on that pitch must be a nightmare. Instead of ball boys, do they have divers?

If Abuja took that approach though it would prove they're not up to hosting. They need to do what Rio did and keep that message quite subtle and in the background, sorting out the technicalities first.

Although you also have to think would their lives be any better if they were not working on such projects.

When are the games due to be awarded - sometime next year I guess? I imagine realistically it's too late to get a bid off the ground for South Africa now - though IMO in the next couple of decades they are Africa's only realistic hope of getting the games, though unlike other African countries, should South Africa bid for the Olympics I'd imagine they'd always be a strong contender. It's a gamble really - do they go straight in for the Olympics, or delay their Olympic dreams and show they can host an event such as the Commonwealth Games first - but if they were to host those in 2018, I think we'd be looking at 2028 (2024 at a push) for South Africa to be bidding for the Olympics.

That's a huge weight of Delhi's shoulders. Have Australia publicly committed to sending a team yet, or are there still some doubts there?

At this moment in time I'd say they definately should, but should Delhi turn out to be a huge success, I'd imagine they'd be much more confident in moving into Africa. When would the Gold Coast propose to hold their games - it's getting a bit ridiculous now with them March one games, October the next. I know June - August is probably out of the question, but April/May or September wouldn't be too bad. I'd just like more than a couple of weeks between the Winter Olympics and the Commonwealth Games!

Would that be what the people of Vancouver want though? It's a good idea to relight cauldrons during future Olympic games - but that's assuming you have a nice cauldron. If this was in my hometown I think I'd want it demolished ASAP.

The ParalympicSport.TV site is very good for both live and on demand coverage. The highlights per day only come to 20-30 minutes, rather than a fixed 55 minute programme as it looked initially, but surely at the least broadcasters could make that available on their on demand / interactive services even if they're not carrying other coverage.

Well I think it's obvious really but everything from athletes/nations pulling out or apparently threatening to pull out to the lack of interest in broadcasting the games as a result, and I guess it's also affected sponsorship too. Alot of it completely unfounded, but unfortunately these concerns could write off Delhi's games before they even begin.

I'm assuming the outdoor cauldron has been lit again, but seen nothing of it. Is it in the same construction as for the Olympics, or like the indoor cauldron have the 4 arms been removed?

Hopefully the seemingly successful Hockey World Cup has settled some nerves about the games - but as I've said before I think now regardless of how successful the games are in October, the damage has been done by the uncertainty in the lead up to them. As for the Aerostat debate - don't quite get exactly what it is, but surely it's no more of a luxury than say fireworks. If the organizing committee has budgeted for it why not!

Do Eurosport have their own commentators there though or are they taking the feed produced for ParalympicSport.TV?

Don't be ridiculous - no reason at all the games should be combined. And looking beyond the athletes themselves, I'm sure like able bodied folk, most disabled people enjoy the Olympics more than the Paralympics anyway. It's already bad enough that some Olympic events have been compromised due to going too PC in not being sexist (i.e. dropping cycling and boxing categories for 2012) never mind throwing Paralympians in the mix too. Merging the two events would benefit neither. Coverage wise and a shame the BBC can't even bring themselves to show the 10 minutes highlights of the Opening Ceremony. As for coverage in news - well, I've seen nothing today and due to the Six Nations there's only one full bulletin anyway.

P.S. EU members can again watch online at http://www.eurovisionsports.tv - up to three live streams (without commentary) and a daily highlights show.

BBC is shockingly poor - just one-hour of highlights the week after the games from the broadcaster who've pretty much been a leader when it comes to the Summer Paralympics, giving that daily live coverage and highlights programmes. They're blaming budgets and timezones for the lack of coverage - ridiculous really. The rights are bought, so bigger waste of money not to exploit them, and with a 55-minute show produced by the host broadcaster each day all they need to do is stick that on the interactive service. As for time zone - well all the skiing events are in primetime - suits UK TV even more than a games held in Europe. I suspect the real reason is more down to losing the rights to the 2012 Paralympics to Channel 4, who are pledging 150 hours of coverage.

Wouldn't want him anywhere near the London ceremonies. IMO the Vancouver Opening Ceremony was the worst of all in the last 20 years - far too formal and far too concerned with giving us a history lesson, rather than entertaining. The closing ceremony on the other hand was one of the best - fun and entertaining throughout and a visual spectacle without the Beijing budget. I'm hoping London will be similar in approach to Manchester 2002 (Commonwealth Games) where the opening ceremony had a closing ceremony kind of feel to it and I'm fairly confident that the producers will concentrate on the London/Britain of today, not it's history.