Thaindian News

By Mayank Aggarwal
New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) If you’re planning to buy tickets to watch the Commonwealth Games this October and are worried about how to wade through the crowds, rest assured there’ll be a special team of volunteers at hand to guide you at every step, ensuring you have a really “world class experience”.

Leaving no stone unturned to make the Oct 3-14 Games a truly global event, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC) has created a special team to manage spectators.

“Spectators are the most important for any sporting event as they are the ones who encourage sportspersons to give their best performance. We want to ensure that they don’t feel lost or uncared for,” a top CGOC official told IANS.

“Our aim is to make the Commonwealth Games an experience of a lifetime for them. We want the common man to feel that he/she is the most important part of the event,” he added.

He said in India there was no concept of a special team or department to take care of spectators. “It was not there even during the 1982 Asian Games. But in 2010 CWG, it will be the first time that in India such a concept will be introduced,” he said.

The volunteers will take charge of spectators - “from the time they are dropped near the stadium to the time they go back home - volunteers will be there at every step to assist”.

The organizing committee is expecting around 2.2 million spectators, of whom nearly 1.7 million will be those with tickets. The Games will be held at six venue clusters and five stand alone venues in Delhi.

Explaining how the volunteers will work, the official said: “As soon as the spectators arrive near the stadium, they will be ushered to the entry area where volunteers will check their tickets. They will then be assisted in reaching their seats.”

“We are also preparing a spectator guide pamphlet to provide all the important information related to events and venues. This will be available with the ticket,” he informed.

The team will comprise around 200 CGOC employees who will manage the 4,000 volunteers spread across the Games venues.

The volunteers will provide directions, make announcements, check tickets, help disabled spectators, usher, handle information kiosks and man the lost and found counters among other services to help spectators.

The Games venues will have merchandising booths also from where people can buy souvenirs.

The volunteers will undergo special training to brief them about their roles.

“In the run up to the Games, various test events including shooting, boxing, hockey and archery will take place. To prepare a perfect spectator assistance plan, the volunteers will be taken to the test events so that they can learn from the experience,” he said.

“This is being done so that in case there is a loophole in our plans, it can be rectified,” he added.

The official revealed that a “call centre” is being planned to provide spectators with information regarding the city or the Games.

(Mayank Aggarwal can be contacted at mayank.a@ians.in)