All three were were due to defend the titles they had won at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The triple blow came on an embarrassing day for Indian officials as a footbridge linking the main stadium to a car park collapsed injuring nearly 30 workers and conditions in the Athletes Village continued to come under criticism as being unhygenic.

Craig Hunter, the Chef de Mission of England's team, demanded guarantees of safety as he refused to rule out the team not travelling to the Indian capital altogether.

Idowu, 31, used his Twitter account to announce he would not be participating.

"Sorry people, but I have children to think about," the Olympic silver medallist wrote on the social networking site.

"My safety is more important to them than a medal."

Idowu, who won the European title in Barcelona earlier this year, has two young children with his girlfriend Carlita, a two-year-old daughter D'Karma and a son Prince who was born earlier this year.

Idowu's withdrawal followed the decision earlier in the day Australian world discus champion Dani Samuels to pull out after she admitted she was concerned e to security worries which were sparked by the incident last weekend that saw gunmen in New Delhi firing on a tourist bus with semi-automatic weapons.

The decision of Ohuruogu (pictured) and Dobriskey not to travel was down to injuries.

Ohuruogu felt a cramp during a training session last weekend and has decided in conjunction with her coach to pull out of the Games rather than risk irritating the injury which resulted in her missing the latter part of the 2010 track and field season with an injury to her left quadriceps.

"I am disappointed to miss the Commonwealth Games after working so hard to get fit since my quad injury in June," said Ohuruogu.

"However, with the 2012 Olympic Games on the horizon the last thing an athlete wants to do is risk re-injury to the same muscle.

"It was very important for me to be cautious in dealing with my previous injury, and although training was progressing well, intense competition over three days may prove to be more harmful than good and may compromise the long term functioning of the muscle.

"With three rounds in the 400m in Delhi I would need to be close to my best to win the gold.

"I had already picked up my team kit and was getting ready to go to the preparation camp in Doha. 

"Instead I will have a short break now and resume winter training in October to get ready for the 2011 season."

Dobriskey (pictured) has also taken the decision to withdraw following medical advice from UK Athletics doctors to rest after a long season and focus on working towards the 2011 indoor season.

"I was really looking forward to competing and I’d worked so hard to get back into shape," said Dobriskey, whose victory in Melbourne four years ago was one of the biggest surprises of the Games.
"I’m really disappointed, but I just ran out of time."

Meanwhile, Hunter, who last week had described the Village as “spectacular” and claimed that India “should be proud” of the facility, has not claimed that England are not happy with the accommodation and threatened that they would withdraw if the crisis was not resolved satisfactiorily.

"It's hard to cancel an event of this magnitude but we are close to the wire, and teams may start to take things into their own hands," said Hunter.

"Athletes will start getting on planes soon and decisions will have to be made.

"We need new levels of reassurance."

A statement from Commonwealth Games England said: "[We] remain optimistic that England participation at the Games can go ahead.

"However there is a lot still to be done in the Village and this needs to be done with some urgency so that it is ready for the arrival of our first athletes on Thursday (September 23).  

"Since our first inspection, monsoon weather has highlighted a number of different issues which need to be addressed including plumbing, electrical and other operational details."

Wales' Chef de Mission Chris Jenkins admitted that it is likely that Wales will compete in the competition but expressed concern for countries, who unlike the British countries, have not sent out advanced teams to inspect the Village.  

Jenkins said: "On the whole, Team Wales is pleased with the progress made on our accommodation in the Games Village.

"Since our advance party arrived on the 14th September we have been working closely with the Delhi Organising Committee to resolve the issues we faced on first inspection of our tower and while there has been impressive progress made, we also still feel there are a number of operational issues that need to be addressed.

"We are in a good position because we came out early to set up.

"Therefore, we have had time to improve the standard of our building.

"Our major concern is for other countries yet to arrive. Many of these will arrive with athletes and face a Village that is compromised."

Wales and the other countries here call on the Delhi Organising Committee and the Indian Government to increase their efforts to rectify these problems. 

"Given the work of the Welsh team here over the last few days, we are confident that we’ll be ready to receive athletes from the 25th September onwards, as planned, and that the accommodation for Team Wales will be suitable and comfortable for their stay in Delhi," said Jenkins.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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