Indian armed forces prepare sporting battlefields on war footing for Military World Games with a mission for peace
1076 MEDALS TO BE WON AT THE BIGGEST MULTI-SPORT INTERNATIONAL EVENT OF THE YEAR IN INDIA
Trained to be only winners in battles, nearly five thousand military personnel from 89 nations across the globe on the last count will compete with each other at the biggest multi-sport International event of 2007 on the world stage - the fourth edition of the 'Conseil International du Sport Militaire's' (CISM) Military World Games (MWG), being hosted at Hyderabad and Mumbai from October 14-21, in India.
The ambassadors of the armed forces of the participating nations will sportingly achieve the underlying CISM mission - promote peace through friendship, set against the backdrop of the CISM motto - 'friendship through sport', adopted in 1948. But that may not just yet take away the highly competitive element of the games that will be fiercely contested just as in any competitive sports for the 1076 medals, albeit in a spirit of military excellence, camaraderie and espirit-de-corps.
But even as military athletes the world over prepare to compete at the select playfields of Hyderabad that are to be the sporting battlefields of the ensuing games, the MWG organizers of the Indian Armed Forces, led by none less than the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General Deepak Kapoor are approaching the conduct of the event with a game plan that is no less in measure, magnitude and scale than any elaborate war plan of a successful conquest. The planning and execution so far bears the ubiquitous stamp of military precision, procedures and doggedness, all in pursuit of the successful conduct of the event.
"We are very happy with the procedures and progress of the organization," expressed President CISM, Brigadier General Gianni Gola from Italy, clearly impressed with the arrangements and preparations after the final preparatory meet visit to the games venues, at Hyderabad and Mumbai in the third week of August.
"It is for the first time in the history of CISM that a new member country has been able to construct new infrastructures for the games," he further stated thanking the host nation India for that.
Usually a host country organizing an event of the scale of Olympic normally gets into the preparatory act 8-10 years preceding the event. The 4 th MWG being conducted here being next only in scale, proportion and participation to the Olympics, comes about in a period of less than two years. "In a short span of less than two years we have achieved a great deal," informs Commodore SC Joshi, Secretary General of the MWG Organising Committee.
The contract of the Games was signed only in November 2005. It is to the credibility and standing of the Indian Armed Forces among the comity of military nations of the world that an event of such enormity got approved by the CISM, enabling its conduct first-time anywhere outside of Europe. The current preparations of venues including some new sporting infrastructure as well as living accommodation for the athletes are expected to be ready well ahead of the games. These will also go a long way in bolstering the Indian Army's long time objective of grooming prospective medal winners in future Olympics for the country.
The CISM founded in 1948 can be best described on parity as the international Olympic Committee equivalent for the military. It was only in 1999 that India became a member of this forum after the MWG conducted the first edition of the Games. The organization has now 128 member countries with Botswana being the latest. The MWG debuted in Rome in 1995 and were hosted in 1999 by Zagreb, Croatia and in 2003 by Catania, Italy. After India hosts the games this year, Brazil will host the next 2011 Games.
The venues of the various sporting competitions in the military garrisons in and around Hyderabad and Mumbai are being readied on a war footing and are at various stages of completion. Between the two cities will be hosted a total of 13 disciplines of the competition. These include athletics (track & field events), handball, volley ball, football, judo, boxing, wrestling, swimming & diving, shooting, triathlon, parachuting, sailing and the unique military pentathlon that entails five sub-disciplines of obstacle running, obstacle swimming, cross country run, shooting and grenade throwing. A polo exhibition match is also slated during the MWG.
Major General Anil Chait, General Officer Commanding of the Army's Bison Infantry Division and other Brigade Commanders in Secunderabad, Mehdipatam, Golconda and the Andhra Sub-Area Commander are overseeing the preparations that are fast nearing completions. The Flag Officer Maharashtra Area (FOMA) is responsible for the arrangements for the sailing and triathalon events slated in Mumbai on the west coast. At any of the military venues one can easily sense the urgency and commitment of the men in uniform to set things just right.
samir/RAJ
(Release ID :30719)