Empty seats plague Commonwealth Games

NEW DELHI (AP):

Seas of empty seats in stadiums and arenas. Scales that gave the wrong readings for boxers at their weigh-ins. And then the royal flub: an official who identified Prince Charles as 'Prince Diana'.

The first few days of competition at the Commonwealth Games are proving nearly as troubled as the squalor and scandal that plagued the run-up to the sporting event.

Following a Bollywood-esque opening spectacle that was supposed to turn the focus onto the field of play, a whole new set of problems has arisen at India's troubled Games. Chief among them: how to get a nation of 1.1 billion people interested enough to actually attend some of the events.

On yesterday's second day of competition, no more than 100 people were in the 19,000-seat MDC Stadium, which some have called the best field hockey stadium in the world.

Fewer than 20 people were in the 5,000-seat tennis stadium for the first match of the tournament, although hundreds arrived later to watch local hopefuls Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes play in doubles.

Only 58 spectators watched the opening match of netball - a sport similar to basketball but played without a backboard. Swimming attracted a comparatively big crowd, with up to 1,200 people creating some atmosphere.

An official at the 4,000-seat velodrome, where only about 500 people watched cyclists circle the track, blamed a lack of enthusiasm for some events.

"People have no interest in the sport," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media. "You will probably find more people at wrestling or weightlifting, in which India is good. Cycling is a western sport."

As of yesterday afternoon - the eve of the start of track and field events - officials were still preparing Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, laying turf on the infield and clearing debris from the site, which was also used for the opening ceremony.

The monsoons led to an outbreak of dengue fever in New Delhi, a mosquito-borne disease that put an Indian lawn bowling team manager in the hospital.

Also yesterday, a teenage boy called in an anonymous bomb threat at the village that turned out to be a hoax.

Some blame the poor attendance on sultry weather that saw temperatures in the 90s.

Five-day cricket match

Others blamed the fact that India were hosting a five-day cricket match elsewhere in the country against Australia that probably kept many locals watching their national sport on TV.

Ticket costs also could be a factor - even the cheapest tickets at 50 rupees (about $1) are too high for many of New Delhi's poorest people. More than 800 million Indians survive on less than $2 a day.

Organisers are considering giving away free tickets to children and the underprivileged to fill the stadiums.

But problems have kept cropping up at the Games, which run until October 14.

"There are some issues that we had to deal with and we have assigned those issues to various people to correct," Commonwealth Games president Michael Fennell said. "And we're expecting that those will be corrected during the course of the day."

Jiji Thomson, an organising committee official, told the news conference he had not received a report that several Australian athletes had become ill in the village.

Local organising committee chairman, Suresh Kalmadi, then said he would check press reports and answer today, but Fennell broke in and said they had had a report about the sick athletes and were looking into it.

Athletes and coaches complained Monday when scales at the boxing venue were found to be giving incorrect readings, forcing some boxers to take desperate, unnecessary measures to shed weight. But organising committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot refused to admit it was a major issue, saying it had been "rectified."