The Commonwealth Games finished last night. India will be pleased that there were no major problems from terrorism or anything else. India was second with the number of medals and this is the best result ever for India. Australia was first, well ahead of all other countries. New Zealand was only 7th but we got 6 gold medals, 22 silver and 8 bronze, a total of 36 medals. The New Zealand team was the biggest ever with 191 athletes and officials. It was very expensive for our country to send so many people.

For the host country, India, it was also very expensive as they had to build new facilities for so many sports and provide accommodation for so many athletes. Some sports officials have suggested that Commonwealth Games in future could be smaller. Perhaps teams events like hockey, rugby and netball do not need to be in the games. Smaller Commonwealth Games would make it easier for poorer countries to be the hosts. 54 countries belong to the Commonwealth, many of them third world countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

The next Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2014.

For more about the Commonwealth Games, listen to September 18th 2010

Questions

1. Commonwealth is a group of countries which used to belong to England but now has extended to include countries like Rwanda and the Cameroons. However, Europe and the US do not belong. Do we need a Commonwealth?

2. These Games did not fill all the spectator seats. Why was that? Will that mean a financial loss for India?

3. Some people argued that the money for the Games should have been used for better housing for Indian people instead. What do you think? Will Indian people benefit from these Games?