MELBOURNE // The 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi could be cancelled if a security assessment one month before the start deemed them unsafe to proceed, said a leading Australian official. Security around the Games, due to be held from Oct 3 to 14, has come under scrutiny after an attack in Mumbai in November that killed at least 171 people and a recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.
"At one month [out], if for whatever reason it's determined it is not secure, the Commonwealth Games Federation has got to determine whether the Games go on," the Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) chief executive Perry Crosswhite told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper today. "From six months before the Games there will be information on security and we will speak to the [Australian] High Commission and the Foreign Affairs department on a regular basis.
"I'd say a year out will be a crucial point in time and then six months, three months and one month," added Mr Crosswhite. The Indian government promised to spend an additional 782.6 million rupees (Dh55.8m) to upgrade security at the Games after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers team bus in Lahore earlier this month as they travelled to the Ghaddafi stadium in Lahore. They also said they would instigate security methods similar to those employed at last year's Beijing Olympics.
Mr Crosswhite said the ACGA would provide additional private security for its team of up to 550 athletes and officials if required. "We want to make sure the security we have is acceptable. If that [private security] was what was being recommended by the powers-that-be, then we would look at it for sure," he added. *Reuters
