Poor attendance on opening day

Empty stands or sparse crowd greeted the athletes in almost all the competition venues on the first day of the Commonwealth Games events, leaving the organisers a trifle embarrassed. Even the swimming and gymnastic competitions drew lukewarm response from Delhiites, as most of the stands remained vacant both in S P Mukherjee Aquatics Complex, and Indira Gandhi indoor stadium, the venue for gymnastic events.

The hockey matches between New Zealand and Wales and South Africa versus Trinidad and Tobago were almost played in front of empty stands at the 19,118 capacity Dhyan Chand National Stadium. Among the venues, the weightlifting competitions at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and tennis competitions at the R K Khanna tennis complex, had witnessed presence of a somewhat moderate crowd compared to the other venues. The events involving Indian athletes didn’t attract much crowd.

Asked about the lukewarm response towards, the organising committee (OC) officials,, tried to play down the issue, saying they were expecting ticket sale to pick up in the coming days.“These are the initial days. We expect the tickets sale to pick up in the coming days,” said an OC official.