Number of sports queried as bill for host city soars

The Commonwealth Games will remain a giant event until at least 2010, despite the pressure they are placing on smaller countries, says New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie.

A Commonwealth Games Federation meeting in Manchester today is expected to consider restricting the number of participating sports to fewer than 15. This time there are 17.

At the heart of the debate is making the Games accessible to cities that are not as big as Manchester or 2006 host Melbourne.

More than 6000 officials and athletes are coming to Manchester, where the city council's contribution was topped up by £165 million ($540.6 million) from Sport England to host the Games.

A New Zealand city would struggle to cater for such numbers and match such figures.

Currie believes that if any decision is reached today, it will not affect Melbourne, which is committed to hosting a record 18 sports and will be the grandest Games yet.

"Melbourne will be bigger than Ben Hur," Currie said.

"Post-Melbourne, I don't know. Where it goes from there is a challenge. As it is, we would struggle to hold it in New Zealand and I don't know where else could."

Currie said South Africa was likely to make a strong bid as hosts in 2010. A city such as Cape Town, which recently bid for the Olympics, was more than capable of holding a giant event.

The growth in the Games has had much to do with the introduction of team sports such as netball, sevens rugby and, in 1998, cricket.

But Currie said he was a fan of the increase in team sports.

"They add another dimension. And the athletes enjoy it. They have idols from other sports like everyone else does.

- NZPA

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