THE FIRST batch of athletes arrived in India for the Commonwealth Games today, opting to stay at a hotel instead of unfinished, filthy accommodation as the future of the showcase event still hung in the balance.
Twenty-two members of the English men’s hockey team arrived at New Delhi’s new $2bn (£1.27bn) international airport, ushered in by dozens of armed police.
They will stay at a hotel until at least tomorrow before moving to the athletes village which, along with a bridge collapse and a suspected militant attack on two foreign visitors, have thrown the Games into crisis and proved a setback for India’s efforts to showcase its modernity to the world.
Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennell, who flew to Delhi to inspect venues, gave an initial thumbs up for accommodation improvements but said work still needed to be done before the October 3 start of the two-week long event.
“Considerable improvements have been made within the Village,” Fennell said in a statement before the inspection. “It is vital that all remedial work that has already started continues with the greatest urgency.”
The New Zealand Olympic Committee, one of the most vocal critics of the Games, planned to send a team to Delhi but warned “the clock was ticking” for organisers to get things in order.
