India hosted fantastic Games, say Pakistani journalists

NEW DELHI - Pakistani reporters, who were here to cover the Commonwealth Games, Friday praised India for holding one of the best mega events with “fantastic” infrastructure facilities.

“I have been to all the Commonwealth Games venues in the city and all of them are fantastic and world class. India really invested a lot in building infrastructure for the Games,” Pakistan AAJ TV reporter Abbas Shabbir told IANS a day after the Games ended.

Like in other countries, the Games were getting a lot of media coverage in Pakistan.

“The newspaper and TV channels were running stories like delay in infrastructure, financial irregularities and poor coordination among the organisers,” he said.

The report about collapse of the foot overbridge near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was reported almost by every newspaper, he added.

“Before leaving for India, one question was doing rounds among journalists — would the Games be called off,” said the Islamabad-based reporter.

Rizwan Ali from the Associated Press also praised the facilities.

“As the event progressed, things became smoother and India managed to host fantastic Games,” said Ali.

Both the journalists commended the development and greenery in the city.

“It is for the first time I am in Delhi. Earlier, I had visited Mumbai and Hyderabad … Delhi is the best. It is quite similar to Lahore although I did not venture out much because of schedule,” said Shabbir.

“We are planning to visit a few places before we leave Saturday for Pakistan,” said Shabbir with a smile.