‘Call off the 2010 Commonwealth Games’

The terrorist attack against the Sri Lankan cricketers in the Pakistan city of Lahore has prompted a former Olympic great to call for the cancellation of next year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

It’s the first time someone has suggested such drastic action. The multi-code event is scheduled to be help next October, but Dawn Fraser, who picked up gold medals in the swimming pool for Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, has called for drastic measures to be taken. No cricketers were seriously injured or killed in the terrorist attacks on the convoy to the stadium, but others died. Fraser feels the sub-continent region is too volatile to hold the┬á Commonwealth Games, considering too the recent terrorist events of Mumbai.┬á

‘We don’t want another Munich,’ Fraser bluntly told the Australian Daily Telegraph. ‘With an attack like that you wouldn’t be sending any team over to that region at all.’

However, her remark drew a swift response. ‘We’re fully geared up to provide adequate security to the athletes and spectators at the Commonwealth Games,’ said Indian Olympic Association secretary-general Randhir Singh, who is also a vice president of the Commonwealth Games organising body. ‘New Delhi is going to make no compromise on security.’

Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Michael Hooper said his group was aware of its obligations to provide safety.

‘Security plans at all major events are subject to continual review and are amended as appropriate to reflect the threat assessment at a particular time,’ Hooper said. ‘Everyone is committed to creating a safe and secure environment for the Commonwealth’s athletes.’

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