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A tale of two cities

By Tym Glaser (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-26 10:21

If it was a race, it be no contest; a bit like me taking on Usain Bolt in a 100-meter sprint - and even with a 60m head start.

There's still about a month and a half to go before the Asian Games' torch is lit in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, but already - like the Beijing Olympics of 2008 - everything seems to have been prepared on or before time and now it appears to be just a matter of throwing down the welcome mat and waiting for the athletes to arrive.

As our Sunday Special feature story reports, the Athletes' Village was handed over to the organizers at the end of August, virtually all of the competition and practice venues are ready, massive security forces are in place and stringent guidelines have been enacted to cut down on pollution.

Oh, if only the same could be said for New Delhi, which will host the Commonwealth Games a week from now.

Related readings:  An Asiad for the ages  Athletes set to arrive as things look up for Delhi

The capital of India won the right to host the Games in November 2003, a good eight months before Guangzhou's bid got the green light to hold the 16th Asiad. And while the Guangdong city has to cater to about 15,000 athletes, officials, media, etc, New Delhi will look after less than half that number (7,000).

Yet Guangzhou has crossed the line first and Delhi is still barely out of the blocks.

Late construction work has been hampered by the monsoons that rip that country, but that's no excuse for such a shoddy performance which has, over the past few days, seen a walkway and roof collapse and a number of nations sickened by the state of the Athletes' Village, which one could describe as not fit for a dog ... except that recent pictures do show dog footprints on a bed (so our canine friends don't seem to mind).

There are also grave safety and health concerns.

An Australian TV news crew strolled past security guards at one venue, carrying ingredients which could easily have been made into an incendiary weapon, while monsoonal pools of water around other sites are turning into breeding grounds for mosquitoes which can spread dengue fever.

Of course, the Games will go on because India is a major trading partner with many of its Commonwealth brethren and the pragmatism of politics won't want to upset that growing economic power.

Let's just hope the worst of this shambles is over now.

I must say, though, I am looking forward to the Games ... the Asian Games.

Tym Glaser is a sports copy editor who would need about an 80m head start to beat Bolt over the 100. He can be contacted at tymglaser@hotmail.com.