ABOUT• The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX

Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events. It was the largest international multi-sport event to be staged in Delhi and India, eclipsing the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982.

• The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event. It was the first time that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and the second time it was held in Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998. The official mascot of the Games was Sheera and the official song of the Games, Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto, was composed by celebrated Indian musician A.R. Rahman.

• Initially, several concerns and controversies surfaced before the start of the Games. Despite these concerns, all members of the Commonwealth of Nations participated in the Games. A widely-praised opening ceremony helped improve the image of the games. The concerns which were raised during the buildup to the Games were largely eclipsed by strong performance by Indian athletes, smooth running of the sporting events and a "spectacular" closing ceremony. At the closing ceremony, the president of the Commonwealth Games Federation declared that Delhi had hosted a "truly exceptional Games".

ORGANISATION• The organisation was beset by delays: in January

2010, the Indian Olympic Association vice-chairman Raja Randhir Singh expressed concern that Delhi was not up to speed in forming and organising its games committee and, following a 2009 Indian Government report showing two thirds of venues were behind schedule, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell stated that the slow progress of preparations represented a serious risk to the event. Singh called for a revamp of the games' organising committees: Jarnail Singh, a former Secretary of the Government of India, was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi was appointed as head of the committee. In spite of delays and the corruption cases levied on the organisors, commentators stated that they were confident that India will successfully host the games and do so on time.

• At the launch of the Queen’s Baton Relay in October 2009, the Business Club of India (BCI) was formed through the partnership of the organising committee, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The BCI was formed to both market the Games and promote Indian business interests internationally.

COSTS• The initial total budget estimated by

Indian Olympic Association in 2003 for hosting the Games was 16.2 billion (US$364.5 million) but escalated official total budget estimation in 2010 became 115 billion ($2.6 B), which excludes non-sports-related infrastructure development in the city such as airports, city beautification and roads. Business Today magazine estimated that the Games cost 300 billion ($6.8 billion ).The 2010 Commonwealth Games are the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.

TRANSPORT• Delhi proposed a four-lane, 2.2 km underground stretch from

Lodhi Road to trans-Yamuna, linking the Games Village to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and reducing travelling time between the village and the Stadium to six minutes. Delhi–Gurgaon Expressway, Delhi

• In response to concerns over the large number of trains that pass by the Delhi metropolitan region daily, construction of road under-bridges and over-bridges along railway lines has been started. To expand road infrastructure, flyovers, cloverleaf flyovers, and bridges have been planned to improve links for the Games and city in general. Road-widening projects have begun with an emphasis being placed on expanding national highways. To improve traffic flow on existing roads, plans are underway to make both the inner and outer Ring roads signal free.

• To support its commitment to mass transport, nine corridors have been identified and are being constructed as High Capacity Bus Systems (for example, one from Ambedkar Nagar to Red Fort ). Six of these corridors are expected to be operational in 2010. Additionally, The Delhi Metro will be expanded to accommodate more people and boost the use of public transport during the 2010 games. The metro will extend to Gorgaon and the Noida area. For this large increase in the size of the network, Delhi Metro will deploy 14 tunnel boring machines.

GREEN GAMES• The organisers signed a Memorandum of Understanding

with the United Nations Environment Programme to show the intention to host a "sustainable games" and to take the environment into consideration when constructing and renovating venues. Thyagaraj Stadium is intended to be a key example of environmentally considered construction.

• In opposition to this intention, a number of environmental controversies arose and the adverse ecological impact of various aspects of the games have been protested by city residents. City residents filed a public interest petition to the Supreme Court of India against the felling of 'heritage' trees in the Siri Fort area to make way for Games facilities. The court appointed architect Charles Correa to assess the impact and he severely criticised the designs on ecological grounds. In spite of this, in April 2009 the Supreme Court allowed the construction on the grounds that "much time had been lost" and "the damage already caused to the environment could not be undone".

• The Commonwealth Games village, located on the flood plains of the Yamuna, has also been the subject of controversies about the flouting of ecological norms. After a prolonged legal battle between city residents and the state, construction was permitted to continue on the basis of an order of the Supreme Court of India in July 2009, which held that the government had satisfied the requirements of "due process of the law" by issuing public notice of its intention to begin construction work in September 1999 (a date four years prior to the acceptance of Delhi's bid for the games).

Queen's Baton relay• The Queen's Baton Relay began when the baton, which contains

Queen Elizabeth II's message to the athletes, left Buckingham Palace on 29 October 2009. The baton arrived at the 2010 Games opening ceremony on 3 October 2010, after visiting the other 54 nations of the Commonwealth and travelling throughout India, reaching millions of people to join in the celebrations for the Games.The baton arrived in India on 25 June 2010 through the Wagah Border crossing from Pakistan.

• The baton was designed by Michael Foley, a graduate of the National Institute of Design. It is a triangular section of aluminium twisted into a helix shape and then coated with coloured soils collected from all the regions of India. The colored soils are a first for the styling of a Queen's Baton. A jewel-encrusted box was used to house the Queen's message, which was laser-engraved onto a miniature 18 carat gold leaf—representative of the ancient Indian 'patras. The Queen's baton is ergonomically contoured for ease of use. It is 664 millimetres (26.1 in) high, 34 millimeters (1.3 in) wide at the base, and 86 millimetres (3.4 in) wide at the top and weighs 1,900 grams (67 oz).

• The Queen's baton has a number of technological features including:1. The ability to capture images and sound 2. Global positioning system (GPS) technology so the baton's location

can be tracked 3. Embedded light emitting diodes (LED s) which will change into the

colours of a country’s flag whilst in that country 4. A text messaging capability so that people can send messages of

congratulations and encouragement to the baton bearers throughout the relay

MEDALS AND RANKINGSRANK COUNTRY G S B T

1 Australia 74 55 48 177

2 India 38 27 36 101

3 England 37 59 46 142

4 Canada 26 17 32 75

5 South Africa 12 11 10 33

6 Kenya 12 11 9 32

7 Malaysia 12 10 13 35

8 Singapore 11 11 9 31

9 Nigeria 11 10 14 35

10 Scotland 9 10 7 26

11 New Zealand 6 22 8 36

12 Cyprus 4 3 5 12

13 N. Ireland 3 3 4 10

14 Samoa 3 0 1 4

15 Wales 2 7 10 19

16 Jamaica 2 4 1 7

17 Pakistan 2 1 2 5

18 Uganda 2 0 0 2

19 Bahamas 1 1 3 5

20 Sri Lanka 1 1 1 3

21 Nauru 1 1 0 2

22 Botswana 1 0 3 4

23 St. Vincent & The Grenadines 1 0 0 1

23 Cayman Islands 1 0 0 1

25 Trinidad and Tobago 0 4 2 6

26 Cameroon 0 2 4 6

27 Ghana 0 1 3 4

28 Namibia 0 1 2 3

29 Seychelles 0 1 0 1

29 Papua New Guinea 0 1 0 1

31 Isle of Man 0 0 2 2

31 Tonga 0 0 2 2

31 Mauritius 0 0 2 2

34 Saint Lucia 0 0 1 1

34 Guyana 0 0 1 1

34 Bangladesh 0 0 1 1

TOT 272 274 282 828