KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell has moved to allay fears that India will not be ready to host the massive October event, and has defended the organising committee against corruption allegations.
Speaking to the media recently on his return from an assessment visit to the facilities in Delhi, India, the Jamaican said most of the issues were not worth the undue attention being given in various reports.
“I visited all 17 venues and reported quite truthfully that all of them are complete in terms of construction.” Fennell said.
“They are not yet Games ready. There is a difference between a building being complete or a venue being complete because the overlay has to be installed and also the timing and scoring equipment which is fairly standard because some of this equipment is not fixed in the stadia.
“They move from games to games and a lot of the equipment is moving from Singapore at the end of the Youth Olympic Games to Delhi for that.”
Fennel admitted that the one concern they had related to being able to test equipment sufficiently ahead of the games.
He said with some of the equipment being installed behind schedule, the faced the prospect of not being able to carry out extensive tests.
The Commonwealth Games will take place from October 3-14 in Delhi and will feature athletes from over 80 countries competing across 17 disciplines. The showpiece has been dogged by controversy, however, with several allegations of corruptions surrounding the building contracts for the new stadia.
Fennell was quick to distance himself and the organising committee from these charges.
“The federation that I lead appoints an organising committee that is responsible for organising the games,” he explained. “That organising committee is not responsible for the all contracts for the venues. That was being built by the government department so they had nothing to do with that at all.
