C'Wealth Games: Vocal critics New Zealand, England satisfied with Village

After delaying the arrival of their athletes claiming unhygienic conditions at the Athletes' Village, a host of countries, including a couple of vocal critics, today expressed satisfaction at the arrangements put in place at the 63.5 acre sprawling complex here.

New Zealand, one of the countries which raised a strong pitch on the issue of cleanliness, said they are happy with the condition at the Village as their first batch of athletes checked in at their residential zone.

One of the coaches Dave Edwards said the players had no complaints after their first night in the Village.

"Obviously, there's been a bit of work over the past few days, but as far as we're concerned, it's fine. There's a little bit of dust and some poor finishing with plaster and paint and things like that, but we're very happy with what we've got," he said.

"Our flats are roomy and spacious in that regard and the rest of the Village is all fine. The dining hall is excellent. There's horror stories from previous Commonwealth Games where you roll over in the middle of the night and give your neighbour in the bed next door a black eye," he added.

England, whose first batch of athletes were put up in city hotels initially before checking into the Village after the cleaning works in their residential zone are over, termed their accommodation as three-star facility.

"This is not a five star ... it is reasonable three star and athletes are fine with that," England's chef-de mission, Craig Hunter told reporters.

Australian chef-de-mission Steve Moneghetti said his country's athletes earlier had some doubts about the conditions at the Village but were pleasantly surprised after checking-in at their accommodations.

"There were some doubts regarding the condition at the Games Village before coming but our athletes have been pleasantly surprised after the feel of the arena themselves. There has been no problem as such and our team is arriving in batches. Some have arrived and some will check into the Games Village in the next 48 hours," he said.

"Our athletes are happy with the training facilities and dinning area. We are satisfied with our residential tower. There is some water-logging in the basement but now that the rain has stopped and sun has come out shinning so we believe it would soon be mopped off," said Moneghetti.

"There are no snakes found under my bed," he said jokingly, and added, "We all are happy with the Village."

Moneghetti is also happy about the security arrangements, saying that it is top class.

"Before coming to Delhi we were concerned because security was on our high priority but everything is good and security arrangements are perfect here," he said.

Asked about the pull-out of top athletes from the mega event, Moneghetti said, "Commonwealth Games are serious international competitions and our athletes want to compete at the highest level. Definitely we wanted athletes to come to India because the Games are all about competition.

"We want all the countries to arrive early and enjoy the experience at the Village. Performing in the Commonwealth Games is like once-in-a-lifetime experience," he said.

Chef-de-mission of Atlantic island of Jersey, Paul Huddlestone was also satisfied with the security arrangements.

"Our athletes will arrive here tomorrow. There were some concerns regarding security at the Games Village before arriving in India but they all have been taken good care by the organisers. Security is something which we can't compromised and we have found good arrangements here," he said.

"There were also concerns about Dengue and when we arrived at the Games Village, we found some mosquitoes breeding. But after complaining to all the organisers it has been taken good care of," he added.

Huddlestone though has one complaint and he said there was nobody to guide his country's contingent upto their residential tower when they arrived.

"Athletes of many small countries are finding it difficult to locate their respective residential towers. Being a small contingent we found it quite difficult to locate our tower and there was no one to guide us. These are some small problems one should take care of," he said.