Thousands of tickets remained unsold for the Delhi Commonwealth Games yesterday, just four days before they begin, with the troubled event also hit by another pullout from a star athlete.
Tickets in all categories were available for most sports during the October 3-14 sporting showpiece, with places still on sale even for the opening and closing ceremonies and the 100-metre finals.
About two million tickets were put on sale for the multi-sport Games, but rumours have long circulated in the capital that the response has been lacklustre amid delays in finalising the sales network.
Tickets ranging from 200 rupees ($4.4) to 1,000 rupees were on sale for the 100-metre men’s final on October 7, normally the highlight of the athletics, while all prices were also on offer for the swimming finals.
“Sales have picked up a bit in the last 10 days,” a saleswoman in the official telesales service told AFP after confirming availability for all major events.
Organisers have declined to release sales figures.
About 15 people waited in line at a bank in central Delhi selling tickets.
“We have got seats for India against Scotland in the hockey,” said Avneet Singh, a business analyst.
“People have been put off by concern about safety, but I think it is going to be good fun.”
Another buyer, Shreya Prakash, 22, said that Indians might flock at the last-minute to events in which the host nation expects to pick up medals, like wrestling and weightlifting.
“All the schools are on special holidays and tickets are often quite cheap with free metro rides included. But there’s no interest in something like swimming,” he said.
The slow take-up of tickets could also reflect the absence of major crowd-pulling stars such as Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt or marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe.
World 800m champion Caster Semenya pulled out of the Games on Tuesday because of a back injury, stripping the event of one of its few high-profile names in athletics.
The 19-year-old was the subject of controversial probe by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) into her gender that saw her sidelined for almost 11 months.
Team South Africa’s chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra said that Semenya underwent tests in Johannesburg on Tuesday and that scans had confirmed a back injury.