New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie today claimed that the Commonwealth Games organisers bluffed the Kiwi officials into believing that all was well at the athletes village by showing them a model tower during previous recce visits to Delhi.
New Zealand will take another day before deciding whether to participate or pull out of the October 3 to 14 Games, the build-up to which has been marred by shoddy preparations.
Currie said New Zealand officials were not given access to the actual living area designated for their athletes during previous visits and were only shown a model tower of the Games' Village, which has now been described as "filthy" by international delegates.
"It is probably a fair question," Currie said.
"We'd had great difficulty getting to the accommodation area on any of the visits we've had. They had this model tower, which is immaculate. They had said all towers would be finished and furnished to the [specifications] of the model tower," he was quoted a saying by the local media here.
"In May when we were here, we finally did get in and had a very brief look at one apartment. It wasn't finished, there was a lot of debris around, but we were more concerned at that stage where we were going to be in the village and what decorations and banners and signage we needed, to get some measurements around all of that.
"Still they wouldn't let us into any significant areas of the tower," he recalled.
Currie said part of the blame for the current crisis in Delhi also lies with the Commonwealth Games Federation, which didn't act promptly enough.
"We're somewhat grumpy with them, that they didn't have a better process of understanding how bad things were," Currie said.
Currie met the other chefs de mission yesterday and said he is more optimistic than before after Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stepped in.
"But she has a mountain to climb. She is in charge ... now we wait to see the process and evidence that things can be rectified. There has been a lot of talk, now we want evidence," Currie said.
"But she has brought leadership and a layer of administration to act. They have brought in some resources because there have been a lot of people milling around not being effective.
"There is some hope now. I'm more optimistic now that someone has taken ownership," he added.
