Plan B: Games athletes wait in Singapore

New Zealand Commonwealth Games team chef de mission Dave Currie. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Singapore could be used as a holding pen for athletes if the Commonwealth Games village is still uninhabitable by the time they are due to arrive.

Hockey and badminton teams are scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Sunday but the New Zealand Olympic Committee could delay them if conditions have not significantly improved.

The NZOC are set to make a statement at 4pm today.

Comm Games chief sets crisis meeting

"[Holding them] in Singapore is certainly a possibility," an NZOC spokesperson said. "We have operations people looking at ways to manage the flow of athletes into Delhi, whilst also monitoring progress in the village."

Singapore recently hosted the Youth Olympics and would have no problem housing large numbers of athletes. Training facilities in the city-state are first class.

The acknowledgement that athletes might be held back from Delhi is the clearest indication yet that the Games are in real trouble.

Overnight a false roof at the weightlifting venue collapsed just a day after a footbridge gave way near the main stadium, injuring 27 construction workers.

NZOC president Mike Stanley and secretary-general Barry Maister arrived for unscheduled meetings in Delhi yesterday as desperation over the city's readiness grew.

Chef de mission Dave Currie briefed the pair and took them on a tour of the village. Currie had painted a positive picture of the village in previous visits, but that has changed.

"There is still a list of maintenance issues to be addressed," he said. "It's now up to the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Organising Committee to show us they can ready the village in time."

Maister and Stanley are expected to announce their findings today, ahead of tomorrow's NZOC board meeting. While that date was originally touted as decision day for New Zealand's attendance, there is no guarantee they will count themselves in or out as Delhi's Organising Committee is given as long as possible to prove the city can host the October 3-14 event.

Also in Delhi yesterday was a cricket contingent, including Geoff Allott and Heath Mills, who are conducting security checks ahead of New Zealand's tour in November.

They met Currie, who is also manager of the national cricket side, and Mills said he felt sorry for those who had to make decisions on the Commonwealth Games.

"There's a lot of work to be done and it's hard to see how they'll get everything finished on time. It hasn't stopped raining since we arrived."

Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper yesterday added his voice to the chorus of despair.

"We are disappointed with the Games village, especially when only two days are left for the athletes to arrive," he said.

"Some areas of the village are very filthy and uninhabitable, as stated by [Mike] Fennell in his letter to the [Indian] Cabinet Secretary.

"We were given promises that the Games village would be ready by September 19. However the facilities were insufficient to satisfy the Commonwealth Games Associations here."

Bowlers ready to roll

The New Zealand bowls team, due to be the first New Zealand competitors to book into the athletes' village on Saturday, are continuing their preparations on the basis that the Commonwealth Games will go ahead, Bowls New Zealand said today.

The nine domestic-based members of the 12-strong Black Jacks squad are scheduled to fly out of Auckland tomorrow, completing their departure checks about the same time the New Zealand Olympic Committee board meet to review the preparedness of New Delhi to host the event.

"We are progressing based on the Commonwealth Games going ahead," Bowls NZ marketing manager Michael O'Keefe said.

"Unless we are told otherwise by the NZOC, we are progessing ahead with our plans."

O'Keefe said Bowls NZ was in the fortunate position in having chief executive Kerry Clark as a member of the World Bowls board, so had been kept well abreast of the situation.

He said the bowlers, most of whom were in New Delhi in April for a build-up event, were excited at the prospect of competing in the Games.

- NZHEARLD / NZPA