London, Sept. 22: With more and more athletes announcing their withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games, Scotland became the first team to delay its departure to New Delhi because of the appalling conditions at the athletes’ village.
“By delaying the arrival of our athletes by a few days, we hope to give the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee the necessary time to address the concerns that have been raised by both the Commonwealth Games Federation and the countries which arrived early,” Commonwealth Games Scotland chairman Michael Cavanagh said Wednesday.
“We need urgent action from the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Delhi Organising Committee to address these crucial issues,” Cavanagh added.
Commonwealth Games England chairman Andrew Foster said his organisation was monitoring the situation. The first English athletes are due to arrive in India on Friday. “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,” Foster told the BBC.
The Wales team has given the local organising committee a deadline of Wednesday evening to confirm that all venues and the athletes’ village are ready.
Even the smaller nations from Africa expressed their resentment. Last week, the external affairs ministry had organised a presentation for the heads of missions from Commonwealth countries. But that has not been enough to satisfy the diplomats. “For months, we were told that there will be visits by the African heads of mission. We had as a group spoken to the ministers, the sports ministry and OC. But these are only promises,” said Shabeer Hussain Peerbhai, Lesotho’s high commissioner, who said he was speaking for the Commonwealth African envoys in India.