Aussie athletes anxious of family safety at Commonwealth Games

ustralian athletes said Monday they were concerned for the safety of their families, friends and other spectators at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in October.

Anxieties spiked after eight people were injured by explosions on Saturday outside Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium, the venue of an Indian Premier League Twenty20 match.

As a baton relay arrived in Australia on a world tour ahead of the Delhi Games, athletes expressed concern for the wellbeing of those not covered by the high level security that will protect athletes and officials.

Baton carrier Kieren Perkins, the former swimming great who plans to visit New Delhi in the role of an Australian trade envoy, said: “I’ve got family, I’ve got kids and I’m not going to be risking my life for a sporting event.

“At this point I’m going, but I won’t be making any certain decisions until very close to the event,” he told reporters.
“Like everybody else, I’ll be keeping a close eye on what’s happening.”

Senior swimmers Leisel Jones and Jessicah Schipper have already told their families to stay at home.

While Australian Commonwealth Games boss Perry Crosswhite made it clear Australia would be sending a team to New Delhi, he was also mindful of spectators’ safety.

“My view is that the team and the athletes will be well protected. But I think people that go to see the Games, to watch their partners and children compete, will have to be careful.”

Games joint director general T.S.Darbari told a baton relay function at the Sydney Opera House on Monday the New Delhi event would be “safe, secure and the best Games ever”.

Security expert D.R.Kaarthikeyan, a former director of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, said New Delhi was “like any place on the planet”.

Authorities could never prevent “mischievous people” from causing alarm, but he said many levels of security were in place to protect the Games.

The baton will make its way to Melbourne on Tuesday, then on Wednesday to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, which recently submitted a bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

By the time the baton reaches New Delhi for the opening ceremony, it will have travelled over 190,000 kilometres in 340 days through all 71 Commonwealth countries.

Australia is expected to send a team of 425 athletes and 175 officials to India, its largest ever to compete in an overseas event.