Delhi athletes to be named

Athletes to represent the Cook Islands at next month’s Delhi Commonwealth Games in India are expected to be named at the end of the week.

Six sports codes have been confirmed to compete at the games which will be run between October 3 and 14.

The six codes are athletics, boxing, netball, lawn bowls, tennis and weightlifting.

Team Cook Islands management are awaiting the confirmation of a number of athletes to make a commitment to their sport before the team is announced by Chef de Mission George George.

The team, to be made up of around 33 athletes and 19 officials, is expected to depart on September 26 for India and return after the games on October 16.

The team will fly from Rarotonga to Auckland where an Air India charter will fly Team Cook Islands and most likely other smaller teams from the Oceania region, directly to India.

In the meantime the six codes have been conducting training and final athlete trials in preparation for the games in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games organising committee have handed over copies of the completion certificates from all competition and non-competition venues, including the Games Village, to the Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper.

“We got copies of the completion certificates given by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to the venue owners today and, as promised, handed them over to Mr Hooper,” Suresh Kalmadi said.

“We are confident that the Commonwealth Games Federation and its members will be satisfied.”