Major improvements at athletes' village

NEW DELHI (AP):

In a boost for India's beleaguered preparations for the Commonwealth Games, two top international sports officials said yesterday that conditions at the squalid athletes' village had greatly improved, though they said clean-up work should continue urgently.

After holding their team back because of the problems, New Zealand decided yesterday to attend the games. And the first foreign athletes, the English hockey and lawn bowling teams, arrived in New Delhi, though they planned to stay in hotels for a few days before moving to the village.

"Everybody is very excited, wants to get there, you know, get in with the action and get going really," Caroline Searle, spokeswoman for the English team, said as the athletes left the airport.

Marred by scandals, delays

The games were intended to be a source of international pride for India, but corruption scandals, huge delays in getting facilities ready and the filthy conditions at the games village have turned the event into an embarrassment for the emerging Asian power.

At least nine athletes have withdrawn from the games in recent days because of concern for their health and safety.

Amid the criticism this week about conditions in the village, India committed major resources to rectifying the problems before the games, which bring together about 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 countries and territories beginning October 3.

The head of Australia's Common-wealth Games Association, Perry Crosswhite, was upbeat.

"I am very pleased with the village as of now," he said in New Delhi.

The optimism signalled a major change in mood from earlier this week when team officials expressed horror at the conditions at the village, including excrement in rooms and problems with plumbing, wiring and furnishings.

Organisers also have struggled with financial scandals, an outbreak of dengue fever, the collapse of a footbridge leading to the main stadium and security fears after the shooting last Sunday of two tourists outside one of New Delhi's top attractions. A Muslim militant group took responsibility for the shooting.

The cost of the games, pegged at less than $100 million in 2003, has skyrocketed, with estimates ranging from $3 billion to more than $10 billion.

Several teams deferred travelling to New Delhi, and a few sports officials even suggested the games could be postponed or cancelled. But England's decision Thursday to send more than 500 athletes to the games gave a huge boost to the event.

CAPTION: British athletes and team officials walk past security personnel as they arrive to participate in the Commonwealth Games, at the airport in New Delhi, India, yesterday. In a boost for India's beleaguered preparations for the Commonwealth Games, two top international sports officials said yesterday that conditions at the athletes' village had greatly improved. - AP Photo