Indian players voice concern over Commonwealth Games

Several Indian sportspersons have expressed their anxiety over constant complaints about the ensuing Commonwealth Games to be staged in New Delhi.

Saina Nehwal, the Indian badminton champion, presently ranked number 3 in the world too shared these sentiments on the sidelines of a function at Mumbai on Thursday.

The games have been in controversy with pullout of International sportspersons, citing reasons of hygiene and security.

Photographs and videos of animal footprints on the bed, excreta on the racetrack and disabled lavatories came as a rude shock to the Indian government and the organisers of the games in particular.

The footbridge that collapsed a couple of days ago near the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the main venue for the track and field events as well as the opening and closing ceremonies has supplemented the worries of the Organising committee.

A day later, a portion of the false ceiling at the weightlifting arena further raised the controversy over the quality of construction.

In the backdrop of these trends, Saina Nehwal said the pullout of international champions citing lack of hygiene and security was very disappointing.

"It does not look good when such issues do the rounds like the pullout of international players. Finally, my work is to go there and play well but it will only look better when we face a tough competition and all sportspersons come to play," Nehwal said.

"Sometimes it makes me sad but at the same time it makes me happy because we hosting such a huge tournament. So, the expectations are that players who are better than us come to play and the players from abroad give us a tough fight as well. That's is when spectators want to come and watch us play," said Saina Nehwal, badminton player," she added.

Players from other cities too expressed similar views over the callous role of administration towards the games.

For instance, Chandigarh-based Sabeeha Dhillon, an ace shooter observed the excessive amount of negative reporting in the Indian and international media was not proving to be of any help.

"Why are we cribbing now when the games are right on our head? These things should be taken care of at the base level, not at the level when almost everything is done. You cannot do anything right now," Dhillon said.

"The best part is to do when anyone is constructing, whenever the government is doing anything, one should check there and then in the beginning, what exactly are the steps to be taken, where is the money and the funds are going. Instead of cribbing at the later end when everything is done," she added.

"Now our people are saying this has been done wrong, things are falling, and people are dying. Why are you cribbing now? You should have said things a year back or two years back when all of it started," noted Sabeeha Dhillon, champion shooter," Dhillon said.

The event, already the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever with official estimates of three billion dollars, has been marred by charges of rampant corruption, dubious contracts and poor workmanship in the past few months.

Apart from around 10,000 athletes from 71 teams representing 54 Commonwealth member states, New Delhi is expecting a huge influx of sports enthusiasts and tourists during the games.

On Thursday, more nations delayed their teams' arrivals for the games as organisers raced against time to address security and health concerns of the participants.

New Zealand joined Canada and Scotland in delaying its arrival in New Delhi due to what it termed as poor accommodation for athletes, compounded by heavy monsoon rains.

Indian prime minister calls Games crisis meeting

India's prime minister called a meeting with two ministers for Thursday evening as the country scrambles to pull together the problem-plagued Commonwealth Games.

Sports Minister M.S. Gill and Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy are to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said Singh spokesman Harish Khare.

Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram set timelines Thursday for the organizing committee and other authorities to complete any work on the games, the Home Ministry said, though it released no details about the deadlines or possible consequences for missing them.

Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell was expected in New Delhi on Thursday, but the prime minister's office said Fennell has not yet requested a meeting with Singh.

India's ability to host the games, which begin a week from Sunday, has been put in doubt after a bridge collapse and criticism of the athletes' village as "uninhabitable" and "filthy."

New Zealand and Canada became the latest Commonwealth members to delay their delegations' departures for the games because of hygiene and security.

New Zealand's Olympic Committee said its athletes were supposed to arrive this weekend, but now may not arrive until Tuesday.

Canada postponed the departure for the women's field hockey team, two shooting athletes, and staff including medical professionals for two days, Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC) announced.

"The bottom line is that the accommodations in the athletes' village simply aren't ready," said Scott Stevenson, CGC's director of sport.

"We're working extremely hard with local authorities to get the finishing work and the clean-up done, but it's going to take more time. More importantly, we have not received the official clearance from the host organizing committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation that the village is ready for its official opening."

Scotland was the first to announce it was delaying its delegation's departure, saying Tuesday the athletes' village is unfinished and "nowhere near an acceptable standard in terms of health, safety and hygiene."

Structural problems at the venues are also causing concern. A pedestrian bridge collapsed at a stadium Tuesday, injuring 27 people, and ceiling tiles fell off the same stadium Wednesday.

A handful of athletes have withdrawn from the games because of safety and hygiene fears. They include Australia's Dani Samuels, the world discus champion, and Canadian archers Kevin Tataryn and Dietmar Trillus, according to CNN affiliate Global Network News.

English world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu announced Tuesday he was pulling out, saying on his Twitter blog, "When people are being hurt by collapsing bridges and part of a roof in a venue falling in, plus all the other issues in and around the village (it) doesn't instill complete confidence."

The Commonwealth Games take place every four years among members of the former British empire.

South Africa's delegation said it still planned to have its team compete at the games, but warned it could reconsider if the situation changed.

"The safety and health of Team South Africa are of paramount importance to us and if any stage we feel that this is compromised in any way, we will not hesitate to bring the team back home," said Tubby Reddy, chief executive of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard reminded citizens of the government's travel advisory for India, which warns of a high risk of terrorism in New Delhi, where the games are scheduled to be held.

The Australian High Commission has sought repeated assurances from Indian authorities about the safety and "structural integrity" of the games, she told a news conference Thursday.

Australia's minister for sport, Mark Arbib, is also seeking an update on the readiness of the facilities, she said.

India is doing its best to hold Commonwealth Games: Journalist

India, within the limitations of its financial resources, workforce skills, pressing competing demands and probable corruption, has done the best it can to organize the XIXth Commonwealth Games in Delhi, feels a senior journalist.

Andrew Stevenson, a senior writer, who will be in India to cover the Commonwealth Games for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, says that while the event may not be as good as it would have been in Edinburgh, Adelaide or Auckland, people from all walks of life coming to see the games and India, should savor the moment and "make the best of whatever happens".

He says professional sporting competitions have been pushed - by nationalism, science, government funding and private sponsorship - to a level beyond the ken of normal people in even advanced nations in the West, with athletes devoting years of their lives to improving their performance.

He says such competitions are a "world beyond ours", but still a world of people whose hearts beat with the same dreams as ours and who take great pleasure from the nations of the Commonwealth taking part in their games."

He says that the inevitable question will always be asked about whether the Commonwealth Games should be held or whether it should be continued.

The answer to that, he says is "that its stature has diminished by ever-expanding international competition and world championships."

"But it is a different question than whether we should refuse, at the very last moment, the invitation to compete to Delhi," he concludes.

Delhi not first city to be scrutinized for holding major sporting event

Delhi is not the first host of a major sporting event to come under intense scrutiny in the build-up to the opening ceremony and the start of competition.

According to a report in The Scotsman, a nation hosting any event of international significance attracts increasing media attention, as has Delhi for the alleged preparatory mess connected to the XIXth Commonwealth Games.

For instance, the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, saw delighted Greeks welcoming the Games as homecoming after two millennia.

But the original estimate cost of one billion pounds soon tripled, and the roof of the main stadium was completed only three months before the opening ceremony was due to take place.

The roof for the swimming pool was abandoned, so competitors had to cope with sweltering heat, while the city also struggled to implement transport projects as traffic in Athens is often near gridlock.

The International Olympic Committee was perhaps more forgiving about the situation than the Commonwealth Games Federation appears to be about India's current predicament.

One IOC member said at the time: "The truth is Mediterranean countries are pretty relaxed about meeting deadlines.

"If you look back at Sydney they were probably over-staffed, marginally over-efficient and a little too early. That is not the Greek way."

Edinburgh experienced its own problems when hosting the 1986 Commmonwealth Games when 32 nations, mainly from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, withdrew because of England's links with South Africa.

The boycott, together with a lack of sponsorship and additional security costs, left organizers facing a four million pound cash deficit and it was left to the late newspaper baron Robert Maxwell to bail out the games.

By comparison with Delhi, Asia's first Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur was a huge success, attracting record numbers of participants and TV audiences.

Beijing's Olympic Games also suffered its fair share of controversy, but none relating to buildings and infrastructure. Critics said that thousands of people were displaced by construction projects.

Australia sending elite police squad to boost its athletes’ security at CWG

Concerned about security arrangements for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, Australia is rushing its elite police squadron to safeguard its players and officials.

Earlier, the Australian Government had warned its citizens about the dangers of buildings in Delhi, after the collapse of a bridge near the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the main venue for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"Our team will effectively be locked down - unable to visit any public places or use public transport," The Herald Sun quoted a source, as saying.

With the Australian Government expecting more athletes to pull out of the Commonwealth Games, about 15 Australian Federal Police officers will provide a high-level security cordon, though unarmed, after Sunday's shooting incident near the Jama Masjid in the walled city of Delhi.

Canada orders CWG athletes to delay trip to New Delhi

Canada Wednesday told some of its athletes to delay their journey to New Delhi for the Commonwealth Games beginning Oct 3, saying a decision will be taken once it is confident their sportspersons are ’safe and healthy’.

The Canadian women’s field hockey team, three shooters and several members of the delegation’s mission staff were scheduled to leave for New Delhi Thursday, the media reported here.

Commonwealth Games Canada said the athletes will not be departing for Delhi as scheduled.

‘We cannot put (athletes) in rooms unless we are confident they are safe and healthy,’ Canadian chef de mission Martha Deacon told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

He said Canadian Commonwealth Games officials are monitoring the situation and will decide whether Canadian athletes should go to Delhi.

‘We have to review that in the next couple of days, and we’re keeping a very close pulse on (questions of) is this safe, is this meaningful, is this going to be an experience we promised our athletes and coaches… and that becomes the 64 million dollar question.’

The decision has been taken as New Delhi is still scrambling to improve conditions at the athletes village as demanded by many nations, including Canada, Scotland, New Zealand and Britain.

Canadian officials said the accommodation in the Games village was still not in a liveable condition.

Reacting to withdrawal of two world champions – Australian discus thrower Dani Samuels and England triple jumper Phillips Idowu – from the Games, Canadian shot putter gold medal favourite Dylan Armstrong said the withdrawals may have a domino effect with more athletes pulling out of the Games.

Crucial last stage in Games security

India is entering the final and most crucial stage of its security preparations to protect the Commonwealth Games.

National pride, the Games' 80-year history and billions in business investment between India and Australia hang on a successful outcome before and during the October 3-14 sporting showpiece.

Concerns about India's ability to prevent an attack were heightened when two Taiwanese nationals were shot outside a popular New Delhi tourist attraction two weeks out from the opening ceremony.

Motorbike attackers opened fire with a sub-machine gun on a tourist bus at a mosque, with the Indian Mujahideen reportedly taking credit for the attack.

Around 100,000 Delhi police, paramilitary forces and specialised commandos will form a blanket over the sporting venues and athletes village but some other parts of the city will remain vulnerable.

Late construction and last-minute fixes to the 17 sporting venues and village have inevitably impacted the security lockdown plans.

Their readiness is crucial to the protection of Australia's largest away Games team and those of the 70 other national teams attending.

And this all amidst the backdrop of allegations of corruption and dodgy building practices and prolonged monsoon rains that brought an outbreak of dengue fever.

Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), tops a litany of terrorist organisations that Indian officials consider a potential threat to the Games.

At least 173 people were killed when members of LeT stormed a series of hotels and other nearby premises in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

Other security concerns include social unrest, separatist threats and rebel attacks that occur frequently but at a rate that is easily absorbed by a country of one billion-plus people.

India's top security official, Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, has previously commented on a lack of threats to the Games in the past few months.

"It's been a little unusual that we haven't picked up much chatter," Pillai told AAP.

"Yes, if you want to put it in one sense, it's too quiet. But it doesn't mean we are letting down our guard at all."

D.R. Kaarthikeyan, a former director of his country's Central Bureau Investigation is one of many security experts advising Games officials.

Indian security forces thwart potential attacks on a regular basis, Kaarthikeyan has said, but they are not usually publicised.

"When something (an attack) succeeds, you can see 99 have been prevented," he said.

"So many are being rounded up, so many have been detected," Kaarthikeyan said.

Games security operations will also include helicopter-borne snipers and four levels of security around the sporting venues, athletes village and other potential targets.

International policy expert Rory Medcalf from the Lowy Institute says terrorists do have an interest in the Games but Indian security forces will likely prevent any major attack on the venues or the athlete's village.

"You could well have terrorists who opportunistically attempt at least a symbolic attack on some other target either in Delhi or in another part of India," Medcalf said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) and Trade has issued "high degree of caution" warnings to Australians considering travel in Delhi and greater India.

At least 14 major terrorist attacks on New Delhi markets, train stations and other public places have occurred since 2000 and resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries, DFAT says.

DFAT had not altered its travel warning to India for months but the shooting and recent building failures have resulted in updates.

Peter Varghese, Australia's high commissioner to India, concurs with Indian authorities that no credible terrorist threat on the Games currently exists.

"From what we've seen of the plans and preparations for security, they are very thorough," Varghese said.

"At this stage I don't think there's any reason to expect that we would be facing anything like a contingency which would require government-provided evacuation."

International risk consultant Justin Bowden observed late or missing technology during a security reconnaissance trip he conducted in New Delhi in August.

Bowden's team met with ex-Indian intelligence, security managers at key hotels, former deputy commissioners of Delhi's police force and government officials.

"The CCTV is still being rolled out at many events," Bowden said then.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief executive Mike Hooper has fought a long struggle with the Organising Committee to the Games over venues.

He demanded occupancy certificates to confirm the sporting venues and athletes' village were safe to occupy.

A July report from the Indian government's Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) stated some of the venues may have included substandard work that was approved with forged test results.

Indian officials missed two deadlines in August to refute the claims and provide the occupancy certificates but eventually delivered them to the CGF in early September.

Following the footbridge collapse which injured more than 20 people on September 21, Hooper said he had no choice but to accept the documentation as bona fide proof that the venues are safe to occupy.

"We have to accept that they've done their job," he said.

Hooper is satisfied with a final security report he received in September from the CGF's consultant Intelligent Risks that states India is implementing all necessary plans and precautions.

"It's not pretending there's more work to do because there is and the Games haven't started yet," Hooper said.

"You can have the best planning in the world but it comes down to actually what happens on the ground at the time, and ensuring that appropriate security is in place to keep it safe and secure."