Health Wary Athletes Are Withdrawing From Commonwealth Games

Written by: Staff on 27th September 2010

Health Wary Athletes Are Withdrawing From Commonwealth Games

Elena Baltacha (GBR) |

There has been much concern at the Commonwealth Games site in Delhi, about not only the unsanitary conditions within some of the athletes’ accomodations but of the risk of dengue fever.

The upcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi, due to begin in less than a week, have been plagued by controversy and doubt for months but Elena Baltacha, Britain’s leading women’s tennis player and finally a member of the WTA Tour’s elite top 50 after almo

st a decade of trying, has made a decision she describes as heartbreaking and turned her back on a potential medal because of health issues.

The 27 year-old, born in the Ukraine but raised in Perthshire and set to spearhead a strong Scotland tennis team in Delhi, has long suffered from a chronic liver condition that is linked to her immune system. For the past fortnight she has agonized at almost every report emerging from India on the dubious conditions that are set to greet the competitors, both from dengue fever linked with the abu

ndance of mosquitoes and cleanliness issues.

There is a great deal of stagnant water around the site as a result of the monsoon season, and October is the peak month for people to contract the disease. That has prompted some athletes to withdraw, and Scotland’s Elena Baltacha has decided the risk is too great for her to take part in the Games. The opening ceremony tales place next Sunday.

“I suffer from a liver condition which is linked to my immune system and makes me susceptible to picking up infections,” she told the BBC. “After a lot of thought and discussion, I have taken the heartbreaking decision to withdraw from the Games. Conditions in Delhi are such that going there would pose too high a risk to my health. At the age of 27 and after many years of hard work, I am now playing the best tennis of my career and I cannot afford to jeopardize that by getting ill.

For Baltacha, who last week attained a career high ranking of 49, the final straw was hearing the Commonwealth Games Scotland warning that some of the athletes’ accommodation in the Games Village in Delhi was “unsafe and unfit for human habitation”.

Baltacha is currently in Japan and was beaten in her bid to qualify for this week’s $2million Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. However she admitted her performance was affected by her concerns over the decision she was about to announce.

“I am incredibly disappointed because I was really excited about playing for Scotland but I will be cheering on Team Scotland with all my heart, in particular my fellow tennis players. I am very, very sad that I won’t get to play alongside them.”

Jon Doig, Team Scotland chef de mission, maintained Baltacha has been motivated to compete for Commonwealth Games success ever since her medal-winning experience in the inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in Edinburgh ten years ago.

“She committed to representing Scotland in Delhi from the outset and I know she is absolutely gutted about having to make this decision,” said Doig. “We fully respect her decision and understand that this is a very particular set of personal circumstances and this should not give cause for concern for other athletes, who we look forward to welcoming in Delhi over the next few days.”

Topics: Almo, Commonwealth Games, Dengue Fever, Elena Baltacha, Final Straw, Fortnight, Games Site, Health Issues, Heartbreaking Decision, Immune System, Leading Women, Liver Condition, Monsoon Season, Mosquitoes, Opening Ceremony, Perthshire, Stagnant Water, Tennis Player, Tennis Team, Unsanitary Conditions, Wta Tour