Commonwealth Games: England chief expects more athletes to pull out

The fate of the Commonwealth Games in India is hanging in the balance after leading nations expressed concern over the state of facilities. Sir Andrew Foster, chairman of the England team, said it remained "very concerned" over the state of facilities, while the Scotland team delayed its departure for Delhi. Foster said the team still required assurances from organisers over the athletes' village and the games arenas. He added that a final decision would have to be made over the next few days. "All options remain open," he said. The ultimate option would be pulling out of the tournament entirely but Foster said Team England was "not there yet". He also said he expected more English athletes may still choose to pull out of the games unilaterally. The first 22 members of the England team will fly to Delhi tomorrow as planned. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, prepared for a round of crisis talks and the Welsh team set organisers a deadline to prove the venues and athletes' village were fit for use. Foster earlier said the future of the event remained "on a knife edge", 11 days before the opening ceremony. Teams that have sent advance parties raised serious concerns about the state of the accommodation, which has been described as "not fit for human habitation". A number of big-name athletes have pulled out amid security and health concerns.The Commonwealth Games Federation's president, Mike Fennell, will arrive in Delhi tomorrow and has requested a meeting with Singh. The federation's chief executive, Mike Hooper, said the problems with the games' preparations had prompted Fennell to rush to Delhi far earlier than planned. His emergency trip "emphasises that this is an important issue and we obviously need to engage at the highest level to get it fixed", he said.The Commonwealth Games Council for Wales chair, Anne Ellis, said this morning's collapse of a false ceiling in the weightlifting venue – following yesterday's collapse of a footbridge outside the main stadium – had added "a different dimension" to the crisis. The number of injured was reported today to have risen to 27. It remains unlikely that any team will take the decision to pull out unilaterally. "The decision will be made, but it won't be made in isolation. We have delegations from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, New Zealand and Australia out there and the decision will be made jointly," Ellis told Sky News. "I just hope it isn't going to come to that – I hope the organising committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation will pull out all the stops to ensure it can go ahead." The Scottish team, one of the most strident in its criticisms of the village, today delayed the departure of the first group of 41 athletes due to travel tomorrow. Scotland has 192 athletes due to participate in Delhi. "Scotland is hugely committed to the Commonwealth Games. Our team on the ground will continue to monitor the situation. However, we will not compromise on areas of athlete health, safety and security," said Michael Cavanagh, the chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland. "We need urgent action from the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Delhi organising committee to address these crucial issues." The first English athletes are also due to fly tomorrow, but the party will not include defending Commonwealth champions Christine Ohuruogu, Phillips Idowu or Lisa Dobriskey. The trio pulled out yesterday, with Idowu citing security concerns and the other two athletes blaming injury. In addition to shoddy conditions inside and outside the buildings, there are also problems with plumbing, wiring, furnishings, internet access and mobile phone coverage. Hooper also confirmed reports of excrement found in the village. "I've never come across this before," Hooper said of the last-minute preparations. "It's very frustrating to see the delays and the fact that we've had to come right down to the wire. "We've been complaining about the delivery of the venues for nearly two years, and the constant delays," he told the Associated Press. Foster said this morning that "the next 24 to 48 hours is the critical time" to determine whether the standards of the athletes' village could be raised in time. He told the BBC that "the safety of the athletes has to be our primary concern but, equally, we cannot just respond to that alone. We have to evaluate the whole thing together and that is what we are doing." Officials in India continued to play down the problems. "We are absolutely prepared," the cabinet secretary, KM Chandrasekhar, told CNN-IBN television today. Organisers on the ground said a vast team of cleaners would ensure the village was ready and insisted that over the next two days the "finishing touches" would be put to the 34 residential towers due to house 6,500 athletes. Officials said the collapsed ceiling in the weightlifting venue was a "minor thing", but each new setback increases the feeling of a snowballing crisis. Chandrasekhar said: "The cables which were to be set up for the data network were placed on the false ceiling and due to the weight of the cables the ceiling fell off. It's a minor thing and it will be corrected. It's not a matter to be worried about." There were also fears that the status of the Commonwealth Games could be fatally undermined if the list of big-name athletes not competing continues to grow.