Australia Games chief defends CWG against critics
Australia's Commonwealth Games chief has leapt to the defence of October's New Delhi meet, which has come under harsh criticism over construction delays and ballooning costs, reports said on Monday.
The October 3-14 event involving 71 nations is already the costliest Commonwealth Games in history, with an infrastructure and organising budget of $2 billion, which unofficial estimates say will be at least tripled.
An Indian anti-corruption body has also reported that it had found a host of problems in construction work for the Games, including the use of poor-quality materials and dubious contracts.
Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief executive Perry Crosswhite said there could be ulterior motives behind the wave of criticism of the Delhi Games.
"You are not going to take (athletes) if it is not safe or secure — but you shouldn't just push for getting the Games cancelled. A lot of people out there, I think, are trying to do that," Crosswhite told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I am not sure what it is — whether we don't believe it will be as good as in the past, so let's continue to have them found out for what's wrong. "I don't think that's right. I don't think it's fair to the Indians.
I don't think it's fair to the Commonwealth Games or to the athletes." Crosswhite did not identify who he believed was behind moves to derail the Games, but suggested that power struggles in India and reporting by the local media had fuelled the issue.
"Their media is just unbelievable," Crosswhite said. "They are crucifying each other. There is nothing we can do about that." While recognising that much of the infrastructure remained unfinished just 47 days before the Games are due to begin, Crosswhite said many facilities on the inside were complete.
"The athletes’ village is one of the best villages the athletes have ever stayed at," he said. "They have quality apartments, two athletes to a bathroom — we have never had that before.
"Sometimes people just ignore all that and see there is a bunch of rubble outside this venue and say that this is pretty hopeless. I don't think that is necessarily right, nor fair.
"There have been a lot of Games — Commonwealth and Olympic — which at this point of time hadn't looked all that flash." Asked at what point would he step in and declare the Games too risky for an Australian team to attend, Crosswhite told the Herald: "We have said to the athletes all along it's their decision if they go or not. "My own feelings are that the security and safety levels are acceptable.
We have gone through the Australian government on this. We will continue to do that each week. "I had discussions with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (on Friday).
"That is where we are going to take our lead from as far as any change to our position. At this stage, we are on track to go."
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