Princess Diana was there: Kalmadi

Stumbling from blunder to blunder, Kalmadi faces empty stadiums and a series of faux pas' at the Commonwealth Games.

Suresh Kalmadis nightmare journey through the Commonwealth Games seems to have taken a turn for the worse.

Kalmadis ‘feather-in-my-cap’ moment came on Tuesday when he thanked late Princess Diana for attending the opening ceremony of the games. The chairman made the blunder at a press conference saying 'Yes, Princess Diana was there,' after which he immediately corrected himself by saying 'Prince Charles and (Camilla) the Duchess of Cornwall. Now they have gone off and they appreciated all the efforts made here.'

With the head of the organising committee already under fire for the weak build up to the games, Kalmadi was booed when he stepped up to the podium to make his speech in front of a 60,000 crowd at the opening ceremony.

Kalmadi has already had to cover up and justify the conditions at the Athletes Village, from bad rooms to snakes, and has now been forced to apologise to Australia after their athletes were ‘treated like cattle’ at the opening ceremony. The Chief de Mission of the Australian team said that his team was forced to wait in 40-plus degree conditions inside a tunnel at the opening ceremony and might boycott any future ceremonies. Kalmadi admitted that it could have been organized better, stating 'Yes, I think something was wrong and we will correct it for the closing ceremony,' he said at a press conference. 'I'd like to apologise.'

From the opening ceremony and into the games, Kalmadi now faces empty stadiums, after a claim of big queues ‘up to a mile long’ for tickets. He responded to critcisim of empty stadiums by stating ticket stalls had not been set up at any of the stadiums, and that the issue had been resolved. However, rumors have been circulating in New Delhi that the poor response is owed to the delay in finalising the sales network, that or the absence of some top ranking athletes at the games.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP AND REUTERS)