Commonwealths on the Brink.

Thirty-Six hours and counting. That's the time, in reality, left to save not only next month's Commonwealth Games, but quite possibly the Commonwealth Games full stop. In a previous blog I wrote that no Commonwealths, or Olympics, for that matter, are without scare stories in the build up to the event. Will facilities be complete? Will security be good enough? But New Delhi has been hit by hammer blow after hammer blow. Even before yesterday's 24 horas annibilis the talk was of gunmen and dengue fever, monsoons and athletes withdrawing. Then we woke yesterday to the news that half the athletes' village was unfit for habitation, just two days before many athletes were due to arrive. A bridge linked to the main stadium then collapsed, injuring 23 people and then, last night, three of the biggest names in English athletics - Phillips Idowu, Christine Ohuruogo and Lisa Dobriskey - all withdrew, the latter two for injury reasons, while the defending Commonwealth (and current world and European) triple jump champion cited personal health and safety fears and a responsibility to his young family. With England, Scotland, New Zealand and Australia all on the verge of pulling out completely we are on the verge of an unmitigated sporting disaster, and a dreadful blow to the country of India that saw the staging of the Commonwealth Games as the opportunity to announce to the watching world that India had arrived. With all the match-fixing allegations consuming the Pakistan cricket team as well it has been a dreadful few days for sport in the sub-continent. There is still a chance the Commonwealths will continue and I hope they do, but not if they become an emabrassment to the event that should, technically, be staged in Glasgow in four years' time, and to the Indian people. Tick tock. The clock is running down.