India struggled to keep its Commonwealth Games on track yesterday, with England warning the event was on a “knife edge” over complaints of filthy housing and growing structural and security fears.
Officials said Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell was flying in today for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the problems overwhelming the October 3-14 event in New Delhi.
The latest high-profile withdrawals include the English Olympic 400m gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu and world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu, with Australia warning more of its competitors might follow.
Their decisions came after complaints by some teams about the state of the athletes’ village, safety fears due to the collapse of a footbridge near one of the venues and question marks over security after a gun attack on tourists.
Commonwealth Games England chairman Andrew Foster warned that the next 24-48 hours would be “critical”.
“It’s a situation that hangs on a knife-edge. We will not be sending our team unless we are confident,” Foster said, with athletes due to begin arriving this week for an event that was meant to showcase the modern India.
Adding to the organisers’ woes, a section of false ceiling fell down yesterday at the weightlifting venue, although there were no injuries.
Scotland – which hosts the next games in 2014 – announced it was delaying the departure of its athletes by a few days, while Team Wales said it had given the organisers until late yesterday to confirm the village and venues were “fit for purpose”.
Indian media described the complaints about “filthy” and “uninhabitable” conditions at the showpiece athletes village as a national embarrassment, calling for those responsible to be held accountable.
“India has been shamed globally,” the Times of India said in a front-page editorial.
“The guilty must be identified and brought to book. It may not restore our reputation, but at least it will show that we, as a nation, value our honour.”
New Delhi is expecting to host some 7,000 athletes and officials from countries and territories mostly from the former British empire for the multi-sport event.
“I can reassure everyone that the athletes will enjoy their stay in New Delhi,” organising committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot told AFP.
But Australia warned that more competitors could withdraw, after world discus champion Dani Samuels made a tearful withdrawal over health and security worries on Tuesday.
Minister for Sport Mark Arbib said Australia’s Commonwealth Games chief Perry Crosswhite was expecting “a number more” to follow and that he would be imposing tough rules restricting athletes’ travel in New Delhi.
A home-grown Islamist group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a shooting on a tourist bus outside New Delhi’s main mosque that wounded two Taiwanese men, prompting a number of Western countries to issue travel warnings.
The Indian capital has also gripped by an outbreak of dengue fever, caused by mosquitoes breeding in stagnant pools of water that have accumulated on Games construction sites.
The Commonwealth Games Federation on Tuesday blasted the official accommodation as “uninhabitable” with rubble in doorways and malfunctioning toilets, along with electrical and other problems.
The revelations come after a series of delays and missed deadlines for venues, plus a catalogue of claims about corruption, dubious contracts and the use of poor-quality materials – seven years after India was awarded the Games.