'India should not have been awarded CWG'

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President John Coates on Friday said India should never have been awarded the hosting rights of the Commonwealth Games given the shoddy preparations that have marred the build-up to the Games.

“In hindsight, no, they shouldn’t have been awarded the Games,” Coates was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian Associated Press’

Delhi is racing against time to be ready for the Games after several missed deadlines and allegations of inefficiency and corruption against the organisers severely dented its image as an international sporting venue.

Mr. Coates said the Commonwealth Games Federation could have been more actively involved in the preparations.

“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,” he said.

Mr. Coates said had the International Olympic Committee been involved, the work would have been monitored better.

“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.

“You can’t ever cut any slack when your focus should be on the best conditions for the athletes,” he added.

But Mr. Coates refused to say whether participating nations should pull out of the Games, which are already short of star power after several high-profile withdrawals such as Usain Bolt, Chris Hoy and Asafa Powell.

“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.