Gold Coast’s 2018 bid wins Oceanic support 26/04/2010 |
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Twelve Oceanic countries have pledged their support to the Gold Coast’s 2018 Commonwealth Games bid.
Oceania Commonwealth Games regional vice-president Tapasu Leung Ming Wai said that the 12 nations in the region were backing the Gold Coast over its Sri Lankan rival Hambantota.
"We had a meeting in Fiji a few weeks ago where there was talk about the Gold Coast bid and supporting the idea,” he explained. “We see it as a bid on behalf of Oceania. Logistically it is closer to us than Sri Lanka and we would support it security-wise.”
Australian Commonwealth Games Association head Perry Crosswhite is firming up securing votes from the 71 member nations that will decide on the host city. He said securing the 12 votes of Oceania – which includes Samoa, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea – was a major step towards getting the 36 votes needed to win the Games.
Crosswhite added: We are full-steam ahead looking at the strategy and politics now and getting people who are going to support us in November 2011at the General Assembly when the vote happens. There are six regions in the Commonwealth and we would hope to get strong support from Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean. I expect Asia will have some sympathy for Sri Lanka.”
Crosswhite said the bid team is getting tips from Glasgow, host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and would be picking the brains of Delhi 2010 organisers.
He added that the bid would be centred around hosting a smaller Commonwealth Games in a regional city as opposed to previous years when it has been held in large cities.
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