Sydney/New Delhi: Finally there is some appreciation for the beleaguered Commonwealth Games organisers from visiting teams. After reaffirming his country's committment to the Commonwealth Games, Australia Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) chief Perry Crosswhite Thursday said he is satisfied with the security situation for the Oct 3-14 Games.
Crosswhite, who is in New Delhi as part of the advance teams from member countries, wrote a letter to the 400-strong Australian team from Delhi reassuring that the security at the Village and the other venues is acceptable.
"Overall, the impression gained by myself and our team headquarters members is that Games security is extensive and well organised at the Games village," Crosswhite was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
"From all reports this is the same situation at the Games venues and the airport and along the transport routes.
"Our position regarding Games security remains unchanged and we believe the security risk position for our team is at an acceptable level."
Crosswhite said that view was supported by the security advisors to his association, the federal government and the Games federation.
On the issue of cleanliness at the Games' Village, Crosswhite wrote he is confident the athletes' accommodation will be acceptable by the time athletes start arriving Monday.
"Essentially the newly constructed apartment blocks did not have the level of finishing which was expected, and many of the rooms and bathrooms had not been cleaned adequately," Crosswhite said in his letter to all Australian team members.
"Also, because of the current monsoon conditions, water had entered the building in a number of places."
"We are having all apartments professionally cleaned and we are confident that these will be in acceptable condition."
Amid all the controversy, Crosswhite's committment towards the Games comes as a relief to the organisers. He said that no other athletes apart from Samuels had expressed the intention to pull out.
"At this stage no other team members have expressed their intention to withdraw from the Australian team due to safety concerns," Crosswhite said.
Earlier, Australia's world champion discus thrower Dani Samuels pulled out of the Games citing safety and health concerns.
The Games organisers have faced severe criticism in the last three days after a pedestrian overbridge collapsed outside the main Games' venue Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Tuesday, followed by the tiles coming off from the ceiling of the weightlifting venue Wednesday.
Teams such as Scotland and New Zealand haved delayed their departure plans for Delhi and will take the call on their participation only after the Games' Village is declared fit and liveable for takeover.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell will arrive in Delhi later today to take stock of the situation.
CWG conditions forcing Canada to reconsider participation
The sorry state of affairs continues in the CWG. Top Canadian archers have joined the pull-out list. This is not all. Top boxers and hockey contingents have already delayed their departure from Toronto. What does this mean? Are they also mulling a pull-out? Someone please convince them.
Toronto: After Canada Wednesday told some of its athletes to delay proceeding to the Commonwealth Games because of "unliveable" conditions at the athletes' village, two Canadian archers pulled out of the sporting event citing safety and health concerns.
Kevin Tataryn and Dietmar Trillus said they will not be going to New Delhi any more, according to coach Richard Towler. They join Australian discus thrower Dani Samuels and England triple jumper Phillips Idowu who have decided to pull out of the Games for security reasons.
Canada's heavyweight boxing champion Samir El-Mais also hinted that he too might pull out of the event. The boxer, who is to leave for India with six other pugilists Saturday, said he was scared of going to Delhi after hearing about conditions in the sports village.
"It's kind of scared me. Will I feel safe, probably not, but we are guests there, they have to take care of us,'' the boxer was quoted as saying.
Earlier in the day, Commonwealth Games Canada told some of its athletes to delay their journey to Commonwealth Games beginning Oct 3, saying a decision will be taken once it is confident their sportspersons are "safe and healthy.''
Canada seriously mulling pull-out
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 Wednesday.
"We cannot put (athletes) in rooms unless we are confident they are safe and healthy," Canadian chef de mission Martha Deacon told CTV news channel.
"The (Games) village is a challenge. A great variety of rooms and towers in the village need some significant, very rushed last minute work. There are some rooms in the buildings and towers that, with great effort in the next several days, may be acceptable to our athletes,'' he said.
Commonwealth Games Canada officials said their advance team in India found construction sites strewn with debris and human excrement and toilets not flushing.
They said the collapse of a pedestrian bridge near the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the attack on two foreign tourists in Delhi and fears of an outbreak of Dengue fever have heightened their concern about the safety of athletes.
Commonwealth Games Canada president Andrew Pipe said Wednesday that he was only "cautiously optimistic'' about improvement in living conditions at the Games' village.
"We are working closely with our national sport organization partners, and some of them have decided to delay their departures,'' he told the news channel.
"All of that logistical work is ongoing, and in response to what we find on the ground. Clearly we have had to deal with some very specific and very unique challenges - challenges which, unfortunately, we have been talking about for months with the Indian authorities.''
Australia's green signal big relief for CWG
After being battered by a barrage of bad news over the last 48 hours, the CWG 2010 finally had something to cheer about. In fact something big to be excited about after Australia asured it won't pull out.
Australia committed to the CWG: Crosswhite
New Delhi: There was some respite for the beleaguered Commonwealth Games Organising Committee as Australia said it is committed to sending its team for the Oct 3-14 Games.
While some Commonwealth nations expressed grave concerns over the Games Village and the safety and security of venues, Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief executive Perry Crosswhite said abandoning the Games had not been discussed by his nation.
"No, not at all," Crosswhite said. He however called for greater efficiency in security.
"I think you have to be very careful to make that kind of decision because what you are essentially doing is making that decision on behalf of 400 athletes.
"The reality is, they are the ones the Games are for and in some respects they are the ones that have to make the decision about whether they want to come here or not.
"You certainly are in a situation where health and safety and all those issues need to be met. But if they are - and they are - of an acceptable standard, then the Games are for the athletes and they are the ones that should come along and make those decisions.
"They can have their views and all the rest of it, but I don't think we certainly have the right to make their decision unless it's based on something that we are trying to protect them from a security or health issue," Crosswhite was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.
Australia's world champion discus thrower Dani Samuels withdrew from the Games but Crosswhite, who earlier spoke with Australian officials from the 17 sports at the Games, said no other athletes had indicated they would follow suit.
"None of them (Australian officials) said to me that they had any issues in respect of athletes advising them that they had similar concerns to Dani," Crosswhite said.
"All athletes, particularly with what they see in the media in Australia, they have every right to be concerned because they don't see any of the better side of it which they will certainly see when they get here - but they're not here yet."
About 400 Australian athletes will contest the Games. Most of them will arrive here next Wednesday.
Australia's accommodation at the athletes village was acceptable, Crosswhite said. He acknowledged displeasure of other nations with their facilities in separate blocks.
"Some people have let themselves down, it might have been the developers of the village," he said.
"There are things that need to be corrected. I'm comfortable ... as long as the hard work that has started now is maintained and probably increases. There are a number of defects that need to be fixed, but it's not like buildings are going to fall down or anything."
Crosswhite said heavy security around the village was an issue - not for any lack of safety, but for expediency.
"The security, which is really tight, needs to be bedded down to some extent," he said.
"It's friendly, but it's just massive and it needs to be more - I guess the word would be - more efficient while letting people through, in an out."
Canada orders CWG athletes to delay trip
Toronto: Canada has 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 on 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.
"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."
England, Scotland threaten to pull out of CWG
New Delhi/London: Embarrassed by construction delays and missed deadlines, the Commonwealth Games organisers came under more pressure with England and Wales setting a 24-hour deadline to sort out the mess while Scotland delayed their arrival for the event which has seen four more star athetes pulling out.
England admitted their participation is "on a knife-edge" while Scotland's athletes delayed their departure to Delhi and Wales also set a deadline of tomorrow evening for the organisers to certify all venues and Games Village are safe and secured.
The foreign athletes' apprehension came in the wake of a footbridge collapse near the main venue of the Games, the Jawarhar Lal Nehru stadium yesterday, which injured 27 people, and the unhygenic state of the Athletes' Village -- described by many participating countries as "unfit for human habitation".
"I think the next 24 to 48 hours is the critical time which will tell us whether the Village -- which is where the main problem is now -- has got enough accommodation for everybody to come into it. I think we're at an absolutely vital time (regarding) whether the major teams go," Commonwealth Games England chairman Sir Andrew Foster said.
Three British athletes pull out of Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, to be held in New Delhi from Oct 3, has suffered another blow after three of England's high profile athletes - Phillips Idowu, Christine Ohuruogu and Lisa Dobriskey - withdrew citing security and injury concerns.
British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that Idowu's agent Ricky Simms had earlier insisted that no official decision had been made, but the 31-year-old Idowu used his Twitter account to say: "Sorry people, but I have children to think about. My safety is more important to them than a medal."
"I understand people will be disappointed that I will not be competing. I am disappointed. If you know me as an athlete you will know these games mean a lot (sic) to me. It's the champs in which I won my 1st medal.
"And four years ago won my 1st gold, which kicked off the success I have in my career to date."
Christine Ohuruogu, the Olympic 400 metres champion, and world 1,500m silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey, both of whom won their first international gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne four years ago, cited injury problems.
"I had already picked up my team kit and was getting ready to go to the preparation camp in Doha. Instead, I will have a short break now and resume winter training in October to get ready for the 2011 season," Ohuruogu was quoted as saying by the daily.
Dobriskey, who had hoped to double up in the 800 and 1,500m, was insistent that her withdrawal had nothing to do with the adverse reports emerging from New Delhi about the Commonwealth Games. She said her decision to pull out was because of an upper ligament injury picked up in Zurich a month ago when she had to swerve sharply to avoid a final-bend pile-up.
False ceiling in Nehru Stadium collapses
A portion of a false ceiling at the main venue of the Commonwealth Games Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed here Wednesday, a day after a foot overbridge near the stadium came crashing down.
Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandreshekhar told television channels that the collapse was not an issue to be "worried about".
"The cables which were to be set up for the data network were placed on the false ceiling and due to the weight of the cables the ceiling fell off. It's a minor thing and it will be corrected. It's not a matter to be worried about," Chandreshekhar told CNN-IBN channel.
African nations reconsidering sending full-strength teams
After the turn of the major Commonwealth powers, it is the turn of the smaller nations from Africa to express their resentment at the Organizing Committee. These countries are worried that they still have not been able to visit the venues, with only eleven days left for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and have warned that "full strength" teams may not be able to come for the Games.
Out of the 53 nations in the Commonwealth, there are 19 countries from the African continent, all of whom are participating in the games from Oct 3 to 14.
Last week, the external affairs ministry had organized a presentation for the heads of missions from Commonwealth countries. But that has not been enough to satisfy the diplomats.
"The information given to us was a cut and paste job. It does not meet the realities on the ground," Shabeer Hussain Peerbhai, Lesotho's high commissioner said.
Canada threatens to pull out
Canada hinted that it is ready to pull out of the Commonwealth Games if India quickly fails to fix the problems - lack of preparedness at venues and fears about security. The Canadian contingent was to start arriving in the Indian capital from Friday for the Games which start Oct 3.
Taking Indian organizers to task, Canadian officials strongly hinted that if all the problems are not fixed before the arrival date of their athletes, the country might pull out of the Games.
Apart from issues of security and site preparedness, what has heightened Canadian anxiety is the collapse of a pedestrian bridge near Jawaharlal Stadium - the main venue - injuring 23 people on Tuesday, the shooting of two Taiwanese nationals by suspected terrorists and rising dengue cases in Delhi.
In a teleconference with Canada's advance team of sport and security officials in Delhi, Commonwealth Games Canada president Andrew Pipe said, "This would have been an opportunity for India to shine. Instead, I think, it risks considerable international embarrassment unless some of these deficiencies can be addressed.
New Zealand PM in favour of pull-out
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said that he would support any athlete who decides not to participate in the Commonwealth Games and added: "they have to make their own decision on whether they feel comfortable or not with the risks involved".
"I would love to see the Games go ahead, but if they are to go ahead, from New Zealand's perspective, the conditions have to be safe and sound for our people," stuff.co.nz quoted Key as saying.
He made it clear that he would support any individual athlete who decides not to go.
"I think in the end, they have to make their own decision on whether they feel comfortable or not with the risks involved," he said, adding "we're trying to give our people the best assessment that we can".
Source: Agencies
