Mistake to have awarded Games to Delhi, says Australia Olympic chief

Delhi should not have been awarded the Commonwealth Games, Australia's Olympic chief said on Friday, heaping further pressure on Indian organisers struggling to prepare the scandal-hit event.

"The games shouldn't have been awarded to Delhi in hindsight," Australia Olympic Committee president John Coates said on Australian radio.

"But the people who will decide whether we should be there is Steve Moneghetti, the chef de mission, and Perry Crosswhite, the secretary-general of the (Australian Commonwealth Games) federation."            

"And everything I'm reading from Perry -- who's a double Olympian and his focus is on the athletes -- everything I'm reading from him is that, so far is that where we are in the (athletes') village is fine."

Despite other teams threatening to pull out of the Oct. 3-14 Games over issues ranging from athletes' accommodation to safety, Australia has not wavered in its commitment to sending its athletes.

"The problem is the Commonwealth Games Federation is under-resourced," Coates was quoted by Australian media as saying in a separate report. 

"It doesn't have the ability to monitor the progress of cities in the way the Olympic Committee does."  

Coates said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had contracts in place with organisers of the London and Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2012 and 2016 to meet established deadlines.

"If that had been the case (in Delhi), then certainly something would have been done a lot sooner because obviously the venues are not ready," he added.

The multi-sport event which has cost India between $3-6 billion was supposed to showcase the country's rising economic and political clout, but infrastructure failures, corruption scandals and security concerns have threatened to turn the event into a farce.