Colombo Ready to Welcome the Commonwealth
Uppermost in the minds of many at the Assembly will be whether Abuja (Nigeria) or Glasgow (Scotland) wins the right to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
This decision will be announced on Friday November 9 at 6pm (GMT +5:30hrs), ending months of preparation and a week of intense lobbying by the candidate cities.
The week will kick off with a meeting of the Sports Committee on Monday November 5, which will finalise a comprehensive review of sports eligible for inclusion on future Games' programs. The committee will make its recommendations to the CGF Executive Board by Tuesday afternoon.
An announcement on the outcome of the Board’s final recommendations to the General Assembly will be made by the CGF President, Mike Fennell, at a press conference after the Executive rises from its two-day sitting.
Mr. Fennell, and CGF CEO Mike Hooper, will address what is expected to be a large media contingent at the Cinnamon Grand, the host hotel of the Assembly, at 3pm on the Wednesday.
Later that day Glasgow will host an official function for all delegates and media representatives. This will be followed the next day by their rival contender Abuja hosting luncheon.
Thursday will see a series of Regional Meetings of delegates being held in the morning. Delegates representing Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and Oceania will all have separate meetings to discuss their specific issues and to elect their representatives onto the CGF’s Executive Board & Sports Committee.
Key representatives of bid cities, plus Mr. Fennell and Mr. Hooper, will again face the media at 11am that day.
After the lunch on Thursday, a seminar will be held on anti-doping issues. This will include a preview of proposed changes to the WADA Code to be considered at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Madrid the following week. Representatives from WADA will be in attendance and presenting.
Completing a busy day, the official opening of the General Assembly will take place at 7.30pm, hosted by the President of the CGF Mike Fennell and the Sri Lankan National Olympic Committee President Hemasiri Fernando, in the presence of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Media representatives are invited to attend.
Friday is the pivotal day of the week’s activity, when representatives from the 71 member countries and territories commence business at the General Assembly.
The Assembly will receive reports from the 2006 host city, Melbourne, making its final presentation on the Games that ended so spectacularly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 26. Representatives of 2010 host city Delhi will report on the preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and also the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune.
Key business of the Assembly includes the election of CGF office bearers for the next four year period, as well as the election of the host city for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.