With a thumbs-up, guess who holds India hand? Pak

Mon, Sep 27 06:02 AM

The Malaysian and Botswanian teams today joined the ranks of those complaining against the state of affairs in the Commonwealth Games Village, while the South African envoy cried "a threat to the lives of athletes" after a snake was found in one of the rooms allotted to the country's sportspersons.

However, there was good news on at least one front for the beleaguered Commonwealth Games officials: Pakistan. Not only have officials from the country given a thumbs-up to the arrangements and security preparedness for the Games, but also accused "Westerners" of being overly critical.

"We have been given complete assurance by the organisers and our security liaison officer is in India at the moment. We trust the Indian government to provide full protection, and we have no security concerns. Hopefully our entire 75-member contingent will be in India on the 29th as planned," Pakistan Olympic Association president Syed Arif Hasan told The Indian Express on Sunday.

In present times, Hasan noted, no country can assure completely incident-free events, except guaranteeing foolproof security. "We have had teams in India before and not had any problems," he said.

While Hasan added that "it would have obviously been better if the infrastructure had been ready in advance", he said he understood that there could be delays. "We have also had floods and a lot of rain, and the country is reeling under its effects. So nature cannot be predicted or controlled. Even in Athens there were concerns till the last minute but the Olympics went off brilliantly," the Pakistan Olympic Association chief said.