Kalmadi & Co introduce Jarnail as their CEO

There are just three days to go for the crucial ‘peace’ meet in London between sports minister MS Gill, chairman of the 2010 Commonwealth Games Suresh Kalmadi and Michael Fennell, the president of Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

However, there seems to be no change in the stand of the Indian authorities that Mike Hooper, the CEO, needs to be removed from his post.

The bitter clash between the two warring sides — Fennell and Kalmadi — continued on Monday when Jarnail Singh, the newly appointed CEO was introduced to the media in place of Mike Hooper, who was earlier holding the charge.

“We don’t want to comment on the role of Mike Hooper in the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010. Jarnail Singh is the new CEO,” said Randhir Singh, the vice-chairman of Organising Committee.

In a public spat on October 15, Suresh Kalmadi had asked CGF to remove Hooper and demanded that he should be posted out of India because he is an impediment to the progress of the games. Kalmadi had also said that Hooper had been behaving in a high-handed manner with senior officers of the Organising Committee.

Kalmadi claimed that Hooper was also throwing pens and keys at senior officers of the Organising Committee. Meanwhile, before leaving for the Queen’s Baton Relay, the sports minister MS Gill on Monday visited three stadiums, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium that would be the main venue during the games.

“I think we will meet all the targets on time and there would be no further delays,” said Gill, soon after the visit. Gill had earlier said that he would try to cool things down between Kalmadi and Hooper during his visit to London on October 28-29. The sports minister said that the public spat could have been avoided by both the sides.