Australia has voiced concerns about the Delhi Commonwealth Games athletes village as New Zealand says the problems could force the Games to be called off.
New Zealand’s chef de mission Dave Currie said the ill prepared state of the athletes village in Delhi has raised the prospect of the October 3-14 Games being cancelled.
“If the village is not ready and athletes can’t come, obviously the implications of that are that it’s not going to happen,” Currie told New Zealand radio station newstalkZB on Tuesday.
“I think they are in severe difficulties … it’s going to be extremely hard to get across the line.”
Australia, with New Zealand, England, Scotland and Wales, had aired concerns “at the highest possible level”, New Zealand Olympic Committee president Mike Stanley said on Tuesday.
“What they are frustrated by is not enough action, not enough quick action, to see that, between the time we have now and the athletes coming into the village, or even the opening of the Games, things are going to be ready,” Stanley said.
Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief executive Perry Crosswhite is staying in the village, and has told Australia’s chef de mission Steve Moneghetti of problems.
“He mentioned to me about the state of the village and the New Zealanders are concerned about the state of some of the finishing and some of the IT services are not quite complete,” Moneghetti told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Crosswhite was not immediately available for comment but Moneghetti said Indian organisers “have got two days to do what’s probably going to take about two weeks”, referring to the looming arrival of athletes.
“When I spoke to Perry yesterday he said there were some furnishings, some problems with the information technology that he was concerned about … but he didn’t seem that concerned about the overall condition of the village itself,” Moneghetti said.
” … It’s probably not up to western standards … but hopefully it will be suitable for the athletes.”
Earlier Tuesday, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell said the condition of the village had shocked officials from many nations.
“Many issues remain unresolved,” Fennell said in a statement.
“Many nations that have already sent their advanced parties to set up within the village have made it abundantly clear that … the Commonwealth Games village is seriously compromised.
” … The condition of the residential zone has shocked the majority … significant operational matters remained unaddressed.”
Fennell has written to the Indian government, imploring the immediate deployment of resources to fix problems, without elaborating on the specific nature of the issues.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said he was aware of concerns over the village.
“I have seen the comments by Dave Currie but I think he was just reflecting the frustrations we had expressed to us overnight,” Key said.
“I wouldn’t say that means the Commonwealth Games would be off.”
Asked whether New Zealand would act unilaterally and pull out, Key said it was “unlikely that New Zealand would make a call that other countries weren’t prepared to make”.
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