Military World Games - statistics of veritable participation
The Conseil International du Sport Militaire’s (CISM) 4th Military World Games (MWG) to be held at Hyderabad and Mumbai from October 14-21 by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India is the biggest multi-sport International event to be conducted anywhere around the globe this year concedes the CISM President, Brigadier General Gianni Gola of Italy. Considered next only to the conduct of Olympics, the statistics of the Games is indeed staggering.
And if any doubts remain, then sample this statistics taken on the last official count. This year’s MWG will see the participation of 4581 military personnel from 89 countries. Of these 3006 are athletes (2272 men and 734 women) and 1575 team officials. This does not include the 1300 technical officials who along with the organizing committee members add up to a sizable sum. The total participation of women is about 18 per cent.
A total of three military sports – military pentathlon, shooting, parachuting; eight individual/team events – football, handball, volleyball, sailing, triathlon, athletics, swimming and diving; three combat events – boxing, judo and wrestling will see these 3227 athletes compete for 1076 medals (341 Gold, 341 Silver, 394 Bronze). The medals mentioned are all inclusive of the team events.
The maximum medals to be won are in the track and field games, 28 and 26 each of gold, silver and bronze by men and women athletes respectively. Next in order comes swimming with 28 and 23 each in similar categories. Sailing is the only event in which the medals in the mixed category will be awarded. The medals are being made at the Government Mint at Mumbai.
The top three countries in the last WMG held at Catania (Italy) in 2003 were China (31 G-15 S- 12 B), Russia (25 G-34 S-33 B) and Italy (20 G-14 S- 19 B). India is yet to make a debut in the medal tally of the WMG as yet.
There are 3377 civilian and military volunteers, 17400 security personnel from the Andhra Pradesh State Police and 2600 home guards who will substantially add up the total tally to about 35000 persons involved with the Games, one way or the other. Apart from the invitees there would also be the significant presence of both the national and the world media covering the WMG.
In the previous three editions of the WMG at Rome (Italy) in 1995, Zagreb (Croatia) in 1999 and Catania (Italy) in 2003, the total number of countries that participated were 93, 82 and 87 figuring 17, 20 and 11 disciplines with 4017, 6734 and 3406 athletes respectively. CISM officials hoped that this year the participation could reach the highest at 100 countries. But the figure now rests officially at 89.
The maximum participation is in the track and field events. 67 countries are fielding a total of 858 participants comprising 516 men and 141 women athletes with 191 men and 10 women as team officials respectively. Quite characteristically - shooting, a skill that inherently remains the raison d’être of militaries world over, remains next in the high list of participation with 55 countries and 593 members. The breakdown includes 307 men and 143 women athletes and 143 team officials in all.
While volleyball will see only 8 countries, the least in terms of the participating countries with 94 men and 72 women athletes, diving remains the event with the least participants - 31 and 14 in the men and women categories respectively that will see 11 countries vying for top honours.
Handball with 9 participating countries is just a notch above volleyball in terms of the lowest number of the teams in fray, yet with a total of 167 members is among the other games of boxing (43 countries) and wrestling (32 countries) with participants totaling 343 and 339 respectively that are among the only three ‘male-only’ competitions in this edition of the WMG.
Parachuting, an adventure-filled event is yet another sport that will witness an overwhelming participation by 39 countries and 313 participants. The event is being held at Air Force Base, Hakimpet on the outskirts of Secunderabad.
62 percent of the athletes will compete at the civilian venues of Gachibowli (43 percent) and between Lal Bahadur, Saroornagar and Yousufguda stadiums (19 percent). Among the military venues, the Artillery Centre will have the second highest numbers of athletes participating at 22 percent. At the Air Force venue of Hakimpet, the participation will be 8 percent.
TKS
(Release ID :30823)