Australian netball manager points out flaws in CWG venue

Mon, Aug 02 10 03:07 PM

Melbourne, Aug 2 (PTI) The organisers call it world-class but the netball venue for this year''s Commonwealth Games has not impressed the Australian team''s manager who has warned that her wards would not play if some of the stadium''s flaws are not corrected. The Australian netball team''s manager, Margaret Molina, said she saw the Thyagaraj Sports Complex when it was completed in February and a couple of months later in May and came back with "major concerns". "Where the actual wood met at each little line [it] had actually come apart," she was quoted as saying by ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. "Apparently they used maple, which is very soft. They are also saying that because of the monsoon season and the humidity, that''s another reason why the warping''s happening and when that''s finished it will all settle back down again. "I don''t think that can happen, but they seem quite confident and I suppose they live in it. The goalposts - they had actually cemented them in and left a huge, big gaping hole around the posts - and the lighting was incorrect," she added. Molina said she pointed out the problems in an e-mail to the organisers and was assured by them that corrections would be done. "When I got home, I emailed them and put my three major concerns to them. Since then, the lighting has (been fixed) I''ve been told ... but that''s all that I''ve heard," she recalled. Molina said if the problems are not rectified, "we wouldn''t be able to play because that could be three or four broken ankles in one quarter". However, Molina hoped that organisers would make sure that things fall in place. "It''s a shell one day and three days later, it''s completed. I''m not that concerned ... because I just know what they can do overnight. They throw millions of people at it," she said. "They are really trying their hardest to do things right. We''re very happy to go (to Delhi)," she added. Molina also had others concerns on her mind. Se is worried that the organisers would not be able to provide enough washers and dryers for the athletes. "As a manager, you are always concerned how are you going to get all the socks and all the undies and dresses washed and dried and ready for the next competition," she said.

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