Published>Thu, Sep 30 10 12:53 PM
New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) The sprawling Commonwealth Games Village here is a veritable melting pot of different culture and traditions with hundreds of athletes and officials from across the Commonwealth spanning six continents gathering for the Oct 3-14 Games.
The colorful ambience of the Village has provided the perfect backdrop for the athletes and officials to meet and share their experiences.
'The ambience here is wonderful. I love every moment of my stay. There are so many things like gymnasium, shops, recreation facilities. You can have food of our own choice. Everything is available under one roof. Everyone is coming out to enjoy themselves,' Anwen Butten, 38, who is representing Wales in lawn bowls, told IANS.
'It is obviously better if I compare it with my experiences in the previous Games,' says Butten, who is participating in her third Commonwealth Games. Earlier, she had competed at Manchester (2002) and Melbourne (2006).
British gymnast Charlotte Lindsley, too, nods in agreement.
'This is just like a mini-town or province where people from different walks of life are staying together. You meet them and get to know so many things about other countries,' says British Lindsley, who is aiming for a gold medal.
Butten's teammate Hannah Smith, 24, goes ga-ga over the facilities at the Village.
'The arrangements are fantastic. It looks like a multi-cultural sports event is going around. The ambience and the setting here is stimulating. Living together with so many athletes automatically inspires us to perform better,' Smith says.
The Canadian women gymnastic coaches had similar views.
'It is turning out to be an amazing experience,' says Valerie Oudie, Canadian gymnastic coach of women's team.
'We got a chance to stay together with hundreds of people from different culture and background. There is so much to learn and absorb.'
Liz Brubaker, a Canadian gymnast, adds: 'Apart from playing and winning medals, this is also an education tour for us as most of the girls of our team are new to India, which is famous worldwide for its prominent tourist destinations. We came here Monday and we are looking forward to have a good outing here.'
On security concerns Butten, who had won bronze medal at Manchester, says, 'Our special security team had come here last week to look around the arrangements. Going by their inputs and guidelines, we came here and found everything very normal.'
Source: Web Search
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