England won’t decide whether to take part in next year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi until a month out from the event.

English team chef de mission Craig Hunter admitted on Thursday no decision was likely to be made until September on the nation’s participation in the October 3-14 Games.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Wednesday a senior government source said there was “virtually no chance” an England team would be sent to India because of fears they could be attacked by Pakistani terrorists.

Security for the Games has been under added scrutiny since last year’s terrorist strikes in Mumbai and the March attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team in neighbouring Pakistan.

“I would suggest we’ll be making a judgement as to whether it’s appropriate to compete probably at the beginning of September, certainly not in December,” Hunter told The Telegraph.

“An awful lot of things happen in nine months.

“We will take the intelligence that’s given and we will be in discussions at the highest level with the appropriate authorities.

“If they were to say to us in their opinion it was inappropriate for us to compete, then we would have to take that very, very seriously and make that judgement call.”

England’s decision could be influenced by their participation in hockey’s World Cup in Delhi next March.

English hockey authorities said they had no current plans to withdraw their team from either the World Cup or the Commonwealth Games.

But performance director David Faulkner said they reserved the right to withdraw at any time should circumstances change radically.

“The World Cup will be a big dress rehearsal. I was out in New Delhi in October with Met Police officers to see everything on the ground and to meet with Indian security forces and our High Commission,” said Faulkner.

“We saw nothing then to suggest that England Hockey or the England Commonwealth Games squad in general should withdraw. Australia’s cricketers have recently been through without any problems.

“We have gone into great depth about this and we have laid down very strict protocols and chains of command with the Indian authorities.

“For example, we will not travel in our team bus to matches, training or anywhere unless we are accompanied by an armoured vehicle front and rear. We simply won’t travel or play unless that is in place.”

© AAP 2012

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