IPL attack will not deter participation of Australian Commonwealth Games team

Sydney, Apr 20 (ANI): The chief executive of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association has said that they will be participating in the 2010 Delhi Games despite threats from terror outfit and crude bombs exploding in Bangalore ahead of an Indian Premier League match.

"While security in that part of the world is an issue, measures have been put in place and ramped up considerably. Other than the outbreak of war, the Commonwealth Games have always gone ahead," a defiant Perry Crosswhite said on Sunday.

Crosswhite was responding to threats from Ilyas Kashmiri, leader of the feared 313 Brigade, an al-Qaeda-linked group, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Former marathon great Steve Moneghetti, who is the chef de mission for Australia's New Delhi team, was also bullish about the security in place for athletes after a six-day inspection of Delhi facilities.

Speaking in Perth yesterday, where the national athletics championships were doubling as Games selection trials, Crosswhite said he had not been contacted by any athletes worried that the Bangalore attack would deter them from going to Delhi.

"These things continue to happen and they will continue all the way to the Games, but [security experts] don't see it as a direct threat to the Games," he told AAP. (ANI)