David Leggat: Here's hoping the sport is better than build-up

Has a major multi-sport event ever begun under such a dispiriting blanket of pessimism as New Delhi's Commonwealth Games?

Most things that could have gone wrong have. Some of the world's finest athletes have withdrawn. The planet's fastest human, Usain Bolt, bailed out long ago, not that he was ever likely to turn up.

Others were still pulling out as late as this week, citing worries over health and security. Hygiene and sanitation problems have plagued the athletes' village on the banks of the Yamuna river. An outbreak of dengue fever in the past few weeks, aided by heavy rains, hasn't helped.

Heavy duty insect repellent suddenly became the must-have health accessory, with the various jabs and pills for the athletes and spectators.

Security has long been the No 1 priority for Games organisers, with the constant threat from terror groups in the country and just across the border in Pakistan. Armed police and army are smothering New Delhi.

Is this what the Games are all about? Well, yes and no. It should not be, but the image of athletes gaily going about their athletic pursuits with a sense of fun belongs in a bygone age. You don't get an event of any substance these days without substantial security concerns. That's life. How easy it would have been for the Commonwealth Games Federation seven years ago to say, "maybe next time" and take the soft option of Canada (again).

The CGF may not have envisaged the welter of issues which have manifested themselves in the past year.

Yet how they did not take action three years ago when nothing had been done to ready the Indian capital for the Games is incomprehensible. So the lead-in to the 19th edition of the Games has been badly scarred. Whether the Games can recover and Indian pride be salvaged remains to be seen.

On Sunday the Games will open in the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, heralding 11 days of competition across 17 sporting disciplines. The pullouts from the athletes' community has hurt, and in some cases led to a feeling of a second-rate competition looming.

There's an old line trotted out frequently whenever a heavy hitter blows away under-strength opponents. Something about only being able to play what's up in front of you. So it is here.

England and Australia will top the medal table, of that there's little doubt. India's progress will be intriguing.

And what of New Zealand?

In Melbourne four years ago, there was a bold prediction of 45 medals from Sparc boss Nick Hill. The clicker stopped at 31 - six gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze - and hard questions were asked. There's been no talk of targets this time. What will be New Zealand's top achieving sport? Cycling has to be front runner.

The sport is in a boom right now, and even after Greg Henderson's belated withdrawal this week, prospects are strong for a decent haul.

Olympic and world champion Valerie Adams is the firmest of shot put favourites and there are others who should be solidly fancied. There will be other names who will flicker in the national consciousness for a couple of weeks, then gradually subside.

But in a month's time, how will we be remembering the Games of New Delhi? For good reasons or grim?

Olympic Games tend in time to be associated with a particular name. Think Mark Spitz at the 1972 Olympics; Carl Lewis in Los Angeles 12 years later; Michael Phelps at Beijing in 2008.

Commonwealth Games less so.

They tend to be remembered in their totality rather than in individual terms.

If these Games, starting from such an unpromising position, come out the other side without a significant mishap and a feeling that it wasn't as bad as the doomsayers had it to be, that might be a reasonable result all round.