It is another blow to organisers of the Games in the Indian capital who are already facing the prospect of missing triple Jamaica's Olympic champion Usain Bolt and Britain's world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis because the event does not fit in with their schedules.

Tweddle, the two-time world champion, including this year when she won the floor competition at London's O2 Arena, will not be allowed to take part in Delhi because the event is too close to the World Championships, which open in Rotterdam three days after the Commonwealth Games finish on October 14.

The World Championships will count towards future funding awarded by Government agency UK Sport but the Commonwealth Games does not.

Eddie van Hoof, the performance director of British Gymnastics, told The Daily Mail: "It's not just the travel and jet lag but the potential for tummy bugs [in New Delhi] and diarrhoea that exists in making the trip.

"We just cannot afford to take the risk when so much is at stake."

Britain’s men and women gymnasts must each finish as teams in the first 24 nations overall to qualify teams for the following year's World Championships.

These help decide which countries take part in the London 2012 Olympics, with only the top eight countries guaranteed their place.

Thanks to the achievements of Tweddle, who also won the world title on the uneven bars in 2006, and Smith, the Olympic bronze medallist on the pommel horse, and Keatings, who claimed the silver in the all-round competition in this year's World Championships, Britian are a growing power on the world stage.

Tweddle first came to international prominence at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester when she won three medals, including gold on the uneven bars.

She was named team captain for England's squad that travelled to Melbourne for the 2006 Games but was forced to withdraw because of an ankle injury.

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