First batch of English athletes arrives in Delhi

England's first batch of 22 athletes, comprising hockey and lawn bowls teams, arrived in New Delhi on Friday and will be put up in hotels until the residential blocks in the Commonwealth Games Village are cleaned and ready.

England's first batch of 22 athletes, comprising hockey and lawn bowls teams, arrived in New Delhi on Friday and will be put up in hotels until the residential blocks in the Commonwealth Games Village are cleaned and ready.

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England's full contingent of 551 athletes will arrive in the next few days.

The hockey players and lawn bowl team landed on a day when four world class British cyclists pulled out of the Games over hygiene and safety issues.

England chef de mission Craig Hunter said there is still some time left before his groups move in to the Games Village. The village was earlier termed "filthy and uninhabitable" by the advance teams of England, Scotland and New Zealand.

"We will set up our athletes in local hotels," Hunter was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.

"We do not want to move them in one day and then have to move them out again. We want them to get over their jet lag and then move in when it (the village) is ready," he said.