New Delhi (IANS) - The archery arena for the Commonwealth Games at the Yamuna Sports Complex is among the worst hit by incessant rains the city has been experiencing in the last couple of weeks.
The field of play has blotches of rough patches and now the officials at the venue are getting ready to lay artificial and natural grass carpets as a contingency plan. They are, however, hoping it will all be set right in a week's time if there is no more rain.
The qualification and final rounds of the archery competition will be played here. The Complex will also host the table tennis event during the October 3-14 Games.
"The rains have created huge rough patches on what was a lush green field not so long ago. The field doesn't look good at all now. If it doesn't pour in the next two weeks, we will be able to get the grass back in a week's time," competition manager-organising committee Rathin Datta told IANS.
The manager said if the inclement weather persists there is little his team could do to repair the rough patches which could be an eyesore during Oct 4-10 when table tennis competitions are scheduled.
"The whole world will see the field first and the archers afterwards. As of now the venue does not look good," said Datta.
The rain is keeping the venue officials on tenterhooks as the Delhi Government has set a Sep 15 deadline to address all the infrastructure problems.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the owner of the complex, is worried about the state of the venue, but is confident that things will be in order by the time the athletes start arriving Sep 23.
"We have no control over elements. These days the grass can be grown in three days time. A natural or even synthetic grass carpet can be kept ready if there is no respite from the rain," said a DDA official.
The met department forecast is that the rains would continue for some more days in the capital.
The qualification rounds of the archery event will be held in an area of 92m/70m while the finals will be held in 8m/70m.
The event will have two categories -- recurve and compound -- where 176 archers from 26 countries will shoot it out for 24 medals.
Today : Sunday - Feb 05, 2012, 09:52am (GMT+5.5)
