India should not have been awarded the Commonwealth Games, says Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates.
Only nine days remain before the Games are due to start in New Delhi and the showpiece event has been beset by problems, mainly stemming from serious delays in construction, which have caused some the teams to threaten withdrawal.
“In hindsight, no, they shouldn’t have been awarded the Games,” Coates told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
“The problem is the Commonwealth Games Federation 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 (CGF) has a staff of just five as it attempts to monitor India’s preparations while the International Olympic Olympic Committee (IOC) employs more than 400 staff.
Coates said the IOC has contracts in place with London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016) to meet established deadlines with Games preparations.
“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,” he said.
Indian organisers repeatedly failed to meet deadlines for Games construction.
Coates dismissed the fact that Delhi’s protracted monsoon season has added to delays in constructin and preparation as a mitigating factor.
“You can’t ever cut any slack when your focus should be on the best conditions for the athletes,” he said.
England, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Africa are among a number of countries that have delayed their teams’ arrivals due to filthy and substandard conditions in the athletes’ village.
Indian officials have promised that cleaning and repair efforts will be completed by the time the bulk of the 7000 athletes from 71 countries begin to arrive from Saturday.
The village was evidence that India should not have been awarded the Games, Coates said, but he would not recommend that any team should 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.
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