By IANS,
New Delhi/London : Indian and English Commonwealth Games’ officials Wednesday denied British media reports which said England could pull out of the 2010 Games in New Delhi over fears that their athletes would be targeted by Pakistani terrorists.
Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of 2010 Organising Committee (OC), denied all such reports.
“There is no truth in it. The British Commonwealth Games have also denied this report,” he said in New Delhi.
In London, England’s general team manager Ann Hogbin also backed up Kalmadi’s claims saying that they had not received any security warnings on the Games.
“That is definitely not the case. Our current and strong intention is to field a team for the Games in Delhi next year,” Hogbin said in a statement. “Of course, we have a duty of care to the athletes and other team members which we take very seriously.”
The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday that English security officials feared their athletes’ safety could not be guaranteed at present. England was planning to send almost 100 athletes to the Games in preparation for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The daily reported that Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, visited New Delhi earlier this month to inspect the Games sites and was said to have voiced “serious concerns” about the security arrangements.
“If you are an English athlete there is no way you are going to want to risk your life competing at the Games. We currently cannot see any way that England will be able to send a team to Delhi next year,” the daily quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The source also said that police and security advisers fear that the English team will be “targeted by Pakistani terrorists”.
Caroline Searle, a spokesman for the English Commonwealth Games, said that the body is continuing to monitor the security situation.
“We take guidance from the Metropolitan Police. We can’t make a judgment until nearer the time. We have had briefings on security and we will decide when we know what the terror threat is going to be like,” Caroline was quoted as saying by the daily.
The Commonwealth Games, featuring 71 nations and territories, was expected to be the biggest multi-sport event to be staged in India since the Asian Games in 1982.