The city of New Delhi, home to 13.8 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.
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 Commonwealth Games Federation Chairman Michael Fennel stated that lawn bowls, netball and rugby sevens are three of the five obligatory sports that Delhi will have to include in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Fennel further added that,

"lawn bowls is extremely popular in other member countries and Rugby is one of the leading contenders to get into Olympics and was a big success (at the last Games) on TV."

The Planning Commission on Saturday assured Delhi government of financial assistance for building world class infrastructure required to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

"We will try to extend as much help as possible," Commission's deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters here after a meeting with the chief ministers of the northern states. "A lot of major infrastructure will have to be built in Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth Games."

Follow up:

Five new stadia for a variety of sporting disciplines will come up in Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010, a senior official said today. These include an indoor stadium for wrestling and martial arts, an outdoor stadium for rugby and a sports complex for badminton and squash, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Vice Chairman Madhukar Gupta said after presenting the budget of the agency for 2005-06.


Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU) president Pramod Khanna said on Saturday,

"We are helping the authorities in building a stadium in Delhi specifically for rugby during the 2010 Commonwealth Games." Mr. Khanna also said that the game has been formally inducted for the first time by the Indian army. "The Indian army has inducted rugby in its ranks and every unit of the army will have to induct it,"

The proposed 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:
Aquatics, Athletics, Badminton, Bowls, Boxing, Cycling, EAD Events, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Rugby 7s, Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis and Weightlifting




Source: India Rugby Website