Australia, the top-notch sporting nation in the Commonwealth, which won 222 medals in the previous Games, on Friday confirmed participation in next month’s Games in Delhi as did neighbouring New Zealand, giving a boost to the event.
Their confirmation gave the much-needed fillip to the October 3 to 14 controversy-marred event, the organisers of which are racing against time to finish pending construction work and spruce up the infrastructure after several missed deadlines.
Australia, a known sporting powerhouse, has been a dominant force at the Commonwealth-level and finished on top of the medals table with a whopping 84 gold when it hosted the previous edition in Melbourne in 2006.
The Aussie haul of 222 also included 69 silver and an equal number of bronze medals.
Their trans-Tasmanian neighbours and long-time sporting rivals New Zealand managed a haul of 31 medals the last time around, which included six gold.
The decision of the two teams comes after uncertainty over their participation with the Australian Olympic Committee even questioning the wisdom of the event being awarded to Delhi while New Zealand had said it would take one more day to decide.
After a visit on Friday morning to the Village, which had come under attack from various quarters over sanitary conditions, Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief Perry Crosswhite said his country was happy with the facilities and that their athletes are looking forward to the Games beginning on October 3.
“We are quite happy with the Village and we are looking forward to the Games. The Australian contingent is coming,” he said. “Absolutely, its thumbs up to the Games,” he said, when asked about his assessment of the Games. Crosswhite was one of the strongest critics of the preparations of the mega event till recently.
