Dubai: The chairman of the organising committee of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games insisted that all the work will be completed before the event opens on October 3.
Suresh Kalmadi's task is onerous since seven years of preparations have failed to get the venues ready for the games and the organising committee has barely seven days left for the opening ceremony.
With national teams on their way to New Delhi, Kalmadi said all preparations will be completed on time.
The organising committee chairman, who bore the brunt of the criticism for poor preparation, tried to be optimistic during a press conference yesterday.
"There's still eight days left for the games to happen, and we will, in the next couple of days, three days, finish all the work that needs to be done," Kalmadi said.
Paying dividends
"In the games village, there are deficiencies," Kalmadi said. "As the chairman of the organising committee, I will take the responsibility."
Mike Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, reiterated that India's last-minute push to clean and finish the facilities was paying dividends, though much more work remained to be done before the opening ceremony.
"There's still a lot of work to be done and it's not over yet," he said.
"A lot of damage has been done to India as a country," Fennell said.
City officials deployed as many as 1,000 workers to clean the athletes village and carry out repairs while hundreds more were doing everything from painting lines on roads to laying fresh grass in front of officials' houses and spraying anti-mosquito repellent.
Fennell stressed that cancelling the Games was "never on our agenda" and said all 71 teams had now confirmed their participation. About 7,000 athletes and officials are expected for the showpiece for Commonwealth countries.
Athletes from 11 countries have arrived so far and the Scottish contingent was also expected yesterday. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northern Ireland and Wales have all confirmed they are satisfied with preparations.
