THE GAMES
The Structure of The Games
The Commonwealth Games is held every four years. The last Games were held in Melbourne, in 2006. The next Games will be held in Delhi in 2010. The Commonwealth Games known as the Friendly Games sees 71 countries compete over a two week period. In 2006 5,766 athletes and officials competed in 16 sports.
In the future there will be 17 sports including up to 4 team sports. Each edition of the Games will include 10 core sports, Athletics, Swimming, Badminton, Boxing, Hockey, Lawn Bowls, Netball, Rugby Sevens, Squash, Weightlifting.
In addition 7 other sports can be chosen by the host country from a list of
Archery, Basketball, Cycling (Road, Mountain Bike, Track), Diving, Gymnastics (Artistic,Rhythmic), Judo, Shooting (Clay Target, Full Bore, Pistol and Small Bore), Table Tennis, Triathlon, and Wrestling.
Competition takes place over 11 days plus the opening ceremony.
Openning Ceremony Melbourne 2006.
The Youth Games
The Youth Games is a relatively new addition to the International Competition schedule, for competitors who are 18 years old or younger. The third Commonwealth Youth Games will be in 2008 in India. In future the Youth Games will be held every fours years from 2011. Every Commonwealth territory is invited to participate in the Commonwealth Youth Games.
The duration of the CYG will be no more than seven days, including one “Host Country” Cultural Day. The CYG Sports Programme will consist of a minimum of six, and a maximum of eight sports chosen from those listed above in the Commonwealth Games section. One of the sports in the programme can be an approved team sport. There will be no obligatory sports.