Thaindian News

Sydney, Sep 24 (IANS) India “shouldn’t have been awarded the (Commonwealth) Games”, Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said Friday.
“In hindsight, no, they shouldn’t have been awarded the Games,” AAP quoted Coates as saying.

“The problem is the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is under-resourced. It doesn’t have the ability to monitor the progress of cities in the way the Olympic Committee does.”

The Commonwealth Games Federation has a staff of just five with which it has to monitor India’s preparations. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), on the other hand, employs more than 400 employees.

The official said the IOC has contracts with London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016) to meet deadlines regarding Games preparations.

He added: “If that had been the case here (in Delhi), then certainly something would have been done a lot sooner because obviously the venues are not ready.”

The run up to the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi Oct 3-14 has been dogged by construction delays and lack of preparedness.

While dismissing the fact that protracted monsoon season in Delhi could have added to the delays, he said: “You can’t ever cut any slack when your focus should be on the best conditions for the athletes.”

Coates said that he wouldn’t recommend any team to stay home.

“I’m certainly not going to be drawn into making a commentary on whether Australia and other countries should pull out from this part of the world,” he said.

Some 7,000 participants and officials from 71 countries and territories are expected to attend the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, India’s biggest sporting event after the 1982 Asian Games it hosted in New Delhi.