Australian athletes’ parents worry over terror threat

SYDNEY - Parents of Australian athletes who are to participate in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi say as the sporting mega event gets closer and more information comes to light they were getting “a little bit more concerned”.

Swimmers president Collette Rickard said the families of athletes were growing increasingly worried, ABC.net.au reported Monday.

“(We’re) a little bit more uncomfortable each and every day as more information comes to light,” Collette Rickard was quoted as saying.

“It was easy three or four months ago to say we are brave, we are not going to let any terrorist scare us. But as it gets closer and more information comes to light, you do get a little bit more concerned,” she was quoted as saying.

She said that the government wasn’t giving enough advice to the team members’ families.

“I would like to see clearly what they have done, what their investigations processes have involved. That sort of thing would make me feel a bit safer.”

Her statement came a day after two Taiwanese tourists - Ko Chang and Ku Ze Wei - were injured in a shooting incident near New Delhi’s historic Jama Masjid.

Rickard said that the government’s advice to keep an eye on the travel advisories was leaving families confused as they decide whether or not to attend.

She said it would be hard to tell her son, Brenton, not to participate.

“It’s very difficult, how hard they’ve worked, what Commonwealth Games means to Australians, and you don’t really want to be the ones that say ‘We don’t think you should do this’,” she said.

Sue D’Arcy, the mother of swimmer Nick D’Arcy, said: “We’ve got every faith in the Indian government and Australian swimming and the Australian Federal Police.”

Some 7,000 participants and officials from 53 countries are expected to attend the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, India’s biggest sporting event after the 1982 Asian Games.