Three boxers who won medals at the Commonwealth games were invited for a felicitation. Empty envelopes replaced cash prizes. Read about it here.

So who will pay? No one knows.

India’s ever increasing presence in the world shooting stage can be epitomised by Gagan Narang becoming World Number 1 in 10 metre Air Rifle.Narang won gold in the World Cup just after the Commonwealth Games as well. What’s more, he is just 22. Reports DNA:

Narang recently won a gold in the same event at the ISSF World Cup in Guangzhou and booked a berth in the Beijing Olympics. The feat propelled him to a whopping 18 places in the rankings and he becomes third Indian shooter after Anjali Bhagwat and Rajyavardhan Rathore to reach the top spot in the world.

India performced commendably in the Commonwealth Games (The Sportstarhad a good review which can be read here) and the Shooting World Cup. Samaresh Jung has called for liberal policies for importing shooting equipment needed. The government has already been encouraging after Rathore won silver in the Olympics in double trap as mentioned here.

The shooters are here. They cannot be ignored any longer. It is very heartening to see.

Indian Samaresh Jung has been adjudjed the best athlete of the Commonwealth Games for his performances. He now heads for the Shooting World Cup.

India has been steadily improving in shooting. The government has been supportive off late. I spoke about it here. It is not just a one off like say a P.T.Usha in Athletics. There is a bunch of shooters coming up. Vishwanathan Anand started the Chess revolution. Rajyavardhan Rathore may well be looked back upon as the trigger who helped India become an international force in shooting.

Half the contingent of Sierra Leone has disappeared (ran away) from the Commonwealth Athletes Village in Melbourne. Reports Reuters:

Police and Australian immigration officials have been searching for 11 athletes from the war-ravaged African country who have gone missing from the village.

This is not a new phenomena as 20 athletes went missing after the Manchester Commonwealth games in 2002. Of course the war plagued athletes will find this as a window for better life. A risk much less compared to living in the war ravaged country. Sport isn’t as important when the problems are much larger. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) isn’t going to rule out Sierra Leone for future games. Political dimplomacy evident in sport and sport again proving that it is life magnified.

India is proving difficult to handle with the doping scandal. The answer CGF President Mike Fennell gave explaining the doping occurences is amusing though:

It’s a very large country, over a billion people, and perhaps there will be people who are perhaps not as knowledgeable about the drug situation and the doping situation, and there will be instances.

The closing ceremony of the games is to be held today with bollywood stars staging a performance. Also, Javed Akhtar will present a song for the Delhi Games. I haven’t witnessed an international sporting event in India bar the Cricket World Cup in 1996. So come Delhi 2010, it will be nice.

Update: A few of the athletes have spoken out. They say that they fear genital mutation and death if they go back.

The Aussie swimmer improves on her own world record becoming the third world record in the Australian Commonwealth Games trials.

Reports CNN:

Jones recorded a time of two minutes 20.54 seconds, fully 1.18 seconds faster than her previous record set at the 2005 world championships in Montreal, Canada. Libby Lenton set a women’s 100 meters freestyle world record of 53.42 seconds on Tuesday, wiping 0.10 seconds off the previous world record set by compatriot Jodie Henry at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Jade Edmistone lowered her 50m breaststroke world record to 30.31 seconds in Monday’s heats.