Games athletes arrive; new security threat looms

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of athletes arrived in New Delhi for the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday as India scrambled to ensure a court ruling due this week over ownership of a disputed religious site did not spark communal violence.

The Interior Ministry issued a security advisory for all states to go on high alert ahead of the ruling on Sept. 30, television channels reported, with fears the high-profile Commonwealth Games could magnify any instances of violence.

Interior Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram held security discussions with senior officials on how to ready for the potentially explosive court ruling on Sept. 30.

The New Delhi police on Tuesday said that security forces have fully taken over the at the venues for the Commonwealth Games.

More teams arrived for the Games on Tuesday, including members of the New Zealand, South African and Australian teams.

"Obviously, there's been a bit of work go in over the past few days, but as far as we're concerned, it's fine," New Zealand lawn bowling coach Dave Edwards said. "There's a little bit of dust and some poor finishing with plaster and paint and things like that, but we're very happy with what we've got."

"They're keeping ahead of it. They've got a lot of cleaners and workers here, but I understand there are still a few countries experiencing problems," New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie said.

Another top athlete also withdrew from the games on Tuesday. Cypriot high jumper Kyriakos Iannou, who won the silver medal at last year's world championships in Berlin, pulled out of the competition "for strictly personal reasons," Cyprus Olympic Committee director Olga Piperidou said.

There was possibly more bad news for the athletics competition, which has already been hit by pull-outs and no-shows from the biggest crowd-pullers such as sprinter Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Jessica Ennis and Chris Hoy. South Africa's Olympic committee says Caster Semenya will miss the Games because of a back injury.

Authorities are rushing to ready accommodation and venues for 8,000 athletes and officials for the Oct. 3 opening. Several teams were temporarily put up in luxury hotels.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit again extended on Tuesday the deadline to ready the Games Village, due to house thousands of athletes and team members.

"We are all going to finish everything by tomorrow or the day after," Dikshit told reporters.

The Indian shooting team, which won 27 medals at the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, had to practice with borrowed ammunition because their own stock had not yet arrived in New Delhi. And the host country's cycling team squabbled with the Sports Authority of India and reportedly threatened to go on strike because of a rule that makes athletes accountable for the loss or damage of imported bikes.

According to Indian cycling coach Chayan Chowdhury, things were resolved amicably when the cyclists discovered that they would not be forced to pay anything.

"The cyclists thought that if they sign, they have to pay money," Chowdhury told the Times of India newspaper. "But when they were told the cycles are fully insured, they decided to go ahead and accept the equipment."

India had long pledged the Commonwealth Games would rival the successful 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

But the chaos surrounding the event, in which 71 nations are taking part, has been a major embarrassment for the government and exposes how far India still needs to go to pull off major projects that helped make China an economic powerhouse.

National teams, governments and domestic critics have chided India for its handling of what the world's largest democracy had hoped would be its coming out on the world stage.

Many athletes have pulled out, mainly citing a dengue fever epidemic and security. Several teams postponed their arrivals pending evidence that venues and accommodation were adequate.

Images of dirty apartments, stray dogs, beggars living by venues and workers urinating in public have proved embarrassing.

The Indian Prime Minister and his Congress party-led government have been accused of failing to give the Games the due attention expected of a large international event.

Only when the first serious signs of trouble at the Games became public a month ago did Singh take personal charge.

Indian Tourism Minister Kumari Selja said only 200,000 of the 1.7 million tickets for the games, but organizers are relying on sales improving once the games begin.

The Commonwealth Games, first held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930, are the most well known - and sometimes the only known - activity of the Commonwealth, according to a survey released in March by the Royal Commonwealth Society.

From: arab News