Military World Games from today

HYDERABAD: The stage is set for the start of the fourth Military World Games which is the biggest ever sports event (in terms of participating countries) to be held in Hyderabad. The week long meet gets under way from Sunday, Oct. 14.

That this mega event will be held in Hyderabad is a matter of pride for all those concerned with the event and for the residents of the twin cities in general.

Germany with 207 participants has sent the largest contingent while China is in second place with a total of 200 participants. Host India is in third place with 196 participants.

Large gathering

A total of 4588 players, along with officials from 103 countries are going to take part in a meet that will probably see the largest gathering of nations after the Olympic Games.

It is not just the participants who are present in Hyderabad in large numbers. Even the numbers of support staff is staggering. It is clear that the state government is sparing no effort to make this a grand show.

Including civilian and military volunteers, security personnel from the Andhra Pradesh State Police and home guards, it is estimated that a total of about 35,000 persons will be involved with the conduct of the Games in some way or the other.

India’s best chances

India’s best chances are likely to be in shooting where there are several international medallists including Vijay Kumar who has to his credit medals at the Commonwealth and Asian levels and Pemba Tamang, a Commonwealth medallist.

Young Hambir Singh is also spoken of very highly by the experts.

In some of the other sports a few upsets by Indian players cannot be ruled out, particularly in boxing. Home crowd support usually has a morale-boosting effect and this was seen when the football team was under pressure against Brazil and Qatar.

Although the team lost both matches it did put up a good fight.

A smattering of Olympic medal winners are in the fray. These include Jossinet Frederique of Germany (2004 Olympic Games silver medallist in Judo), Kovago Zoltan of Hungary (2004 Olympic Games silver medallist in discuss), Rajmond Debeuec of Slovenia (2000 Olympic Games shooting gold medallist), Pecha Peter of Slovenia (2004 Olympic Games, bronze medallist, wrestling ) and Urska Zolnir of Slovenia (2004 Olympic Games bronze medallist in judo).

1074 medals at stake

Among the teams to watch out for will be Russia which had won the largest number of medals (33 gold, 39 silver and 36 bronze) in the previous edition and China which was the second placed outfit with 31 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze.

This meet will see competitions for a total of 1074 medals (341 gold, 341 silver and 392 bronze).

To get the Games off to a colourful start the organisers have planned an attractive opening ceremony replete with sky divers parachuting into the arena, helicopters doing a fly-past and a march past by teams dressed in their smart uniforms.

Considering that all this is likely to be done with the precision one normally associates with military ceremonies this opening extravaganza is likely to be a memorable show.