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Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates has said that India should not have been awarded the XIXth Commonwealth Games. The showpiece event in New Delhi has been beset by problems, mainly stemming from serious delays in construction, which have caused some the teams to threaten withdrawal. "In hindsight, no, they shouldn't have been awarded the Games," news.com.au quoted Coates, as saying here today. "The problem is the Commonwealth Games Federation is under-resourced. It doesn't have the ability to monitor the progress of cities in the way the Olympic Committee does," he added. Coates claimed that the Olympics would not have allowed a similar situation to develop because it has such a strict monitoring unit, including the IOC Coordination Commission, which makes regular visits to the host city to check on progress. "If that had been the case here in Delhi , then certainly something would have been done a lot sooner because obviously the venues are not ready," said Coates, who is a member of the IOC Coordination Commission for London 2012. Coates, who was a senior vice-president when Sydney hosted the Olympics and Paralympics in 2000, dismissed the fact that Delhi 's protracted monsoon season has added to delays in construction and preparation as a mitigating factor. "You can't ever cut any slack when your focus should be on the best conditions for the athletes," he said. Coates' comments came as Mike Fennell, the President of the CGF, began a series of meetings in the Indian capital to try to regain confidence in the Games, which are due to open on October 3. However, Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) Chief Perry Crosswhite, appeared to contradict Coates view by saying the Games Village is now acceptable and gave a thumbs up from his side. Crosswhite said, "We are pleased with the developments. The residential towers at the Village are improving. They will be quite good by the time our athletes arrive on September 27." "It is a thumbs up from the Australian side," he assured.

India should not have got Commonwealth Games: Oz Olympic body chief