With only a year to go for the Commonwealth Games, Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi has a tough job on his hands. In this Idea Exchange moderated by National Sports Editor Kunal Pradhan, Kalmadi speaks about the Games and accountability in sports management.

Kunal Pradhan: Will we be ready to host the Commonwealth Games next year?

The time for circumspection is over. Now everything is finally coming up. Till you see things coming up, one tends to have doubts. Everything is on schedule, as far as infrastructure is concerned. Most of the venues will be ready by the end of this year, two venues, the cycle velodrome and the rugby venues, will be ready by March. Everything will be done by March.

Kunal Pradhan: Many other things, apart from the venues, have to be tied up. What is the progress on that front?

We still need to do the overlays. These are the temporary constructions, like the seats, or the kitchen for the Games Village. The overlays are still being finalised with our two foreign consultants. By the end of June, we should be able to disclose the details. What are left are the test events which we will be conducting between the months of January and June. Part of the test events are the four nation hockey meet in January and in March, we have the Global Hockey Meet. We will have such meets at every venue. This is to test the equipment and the technical options. The temporary overlays will come up at the same time. But everything is running as per plan and on time.

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