As some of England's younger athletes played their part in a tumultuous night of athletics at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on Monday, a group of seven other young talents sat in the stands and watched.

And wondered.

When would it be their turn?

Dame Kelly Holmes, here in her capacity as President of Commonwealth Games England, has brought seven middle distance athletes from her On Camp With Kelly scheme out to Delhi to sample the atmosphere of a big multi-sport championship.

The idea is to familiarise them with the demands such an event can make, so that their minds will not be blown upon first encounter with the big time, as Holmes was when she went to the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada.

Earlier in the day, the group had spent the morning in the grounds of the India Institute of Technology, where they worked with a group of young athletes - and not particularly athletics-minded schoolgirls - in a fun-and-games training session.

Speaking to three of the group - 19-year-old Leigh Lennon, 18-year-old Rowena Cole and 21-year-old Emma Pallant, you are aware of slight ambiguity about the way they view their visit.

"It's bittersweet," said Pallant, a former world junior 1500 metres bronze medallist who earned her senior British international debut earlier this season at the European Team Championships.

"I had wanted to be here competing if possible.

"But at the same time it's great to be here to see what the atmosphere is like at a major championship.

"It makes me more hungry for it."

And that, as Holmes later points out, is partly the reason why these young women are here.

The group is about to watch the women's 800m final, where two athletes who have come up through the Aviva-sponsored OCWK scheme - Emma Jackson and Hannah England (pictured right) - ended up missing medals by a whisker.



Jackson finished fourth in a personal best of 2min 00.46sec, with England one position and one hundredth of a second behind her.

"This is Emma's first senior championship," Holmes said later, her voice hoarse from cheering at a wide variety of sporting venues in the city.

"To get a PB at the Commonwealth Games will definitely be of big benefit to her in future years.

"And the same for Hannah.

"Both of them have shown they have the natural talent.

"The challenge for them now is just having that mental conviction, is being able to say to themselves 'I can do it'.

"Hannah and Emma were part of the group who visited Melbourne in 2006.

"I think they got a lot out of that visit, and they came here unfazed by the whole experience.

"When I ran in my first Commonwealths at Victoria in 1994 I was amazed at the athletes' village.

"There was a dining hall the size of football pitches, and that incredible buzz of energy you get among competing athletes when they get together.

"I was like 'Oh my God.' But when I got to Atlanta in 96 I knew what to expect.

"Of the seven girls out here, three might have been at these Games if things had turned out a little differently.

"The 2012 Olympics are definitely going to be a target for some of them, and the 2014 Commonwealths in Glasgow will be for all of them."

Yep. There are the targets. 2012. 2014.

And then?

By the time the World Athletics Championships take place in 2015, the three athletes who have just shared some of their thoughts and appreciation of this trip they are on will be getting towards the peak of their careers.

Pallant will be 26, Lennon 24, Cole 23.

Those are the ages at which serious medals are often won.

And yet recent comments from the Minister for Sports and Olympics suggest considerable resistance to the idea of financially underwriting London's bid to bring those championships to the 2012 Olympic stadium.

The total would be £45 million, the amount of actual expenditure nearer to £25 million.

Compared to the £9 billion invested in the London 2012 Games, it's a negligible amount to pay for attracting an event that is only on a slightly lower footing than the Olympics or football's World Cup.

Robertson's take on the issue was curious: "If I have to make a choice between underwriting losses and funding elite athletes I will choose athletes every time."

A question for our Minister.

What is the point of elite athletes if they don't have an elite competition in which to perform?

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames and is providing regular reports from the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. These are his sixth Commonwealth Games, having covered his first at Edinburgh in 1986.