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Sports Minister M S Gill on Thursday inaugurated a Rugby Stadium, one of the venues for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, at the Delhi University campus. The stadium complex was inaugurated by Gill in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. The Rugby Sevens event of the Games will be held at this venue, which has been built at a total cost of Rs 300 crore, the funding for which was provided by the Sports Ministry. "I am happy that this sports complex at the Delhi University that has come up at a cost of over Rs 300 crore will be used for rugby, indoor netball, wrestling, etc. We have made practice pitches in all the colleges. We have upgraded their hostels," said Gill. "So, all that work is done. I am happy that everything is ready for the Games, two years ago when I had come here, it hadn't been started. So, I am happy about it and extend my congratulations," he added. The state-of-the-art complex, spread over an area of 10,000 metres, will be the training venue for netball, boxing, women's wrestling and athletics during the Games, to be staged in New Delhi from October 3 to 14. "They are really state of the art. They are not only large, they are extraordinary modern buildings, they have air-conditioning and they are just in one word state-of-the-art in every respect of the world," said Sheila Dikshit. Dikshit further said this sprawling complex will be a great legacy for the students of Delhi University, which they will long preserve and cherish. "But I am sure that these wonderful stadium that have been made, the wonderful facility that has been given will drive the students to come to the sporting arena because it is not just the development of the mind, it is also the development of the physique which makes a complete and a whole man," she added. The stadium has a permanent seating arrangement for 2,500 spectators, while it can accommodate another 7,500 through temporary arrangement, taking the count to over 10,000. The complex also boasts of features like auto-sprinkling technology, underground drainage system, ozone system for air-freshening, less power consuming air-conditioning system and natural grass, seeds of which have been imported from the US. The 12-day sporting extravaganza will be India's biggest sporting event since the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi.

Gill inaugurates Rugby Stadium for Commonwealth Games