CGE need to raise a £1 million ($1.4 million) to send a team of more than 500 athletes and officials to the Games, which are due to open on October 3 and are seen as a vital event in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympics.

The Games have been overshadowed by serious fears that they will be the target for a major terrorist attack but Dame Kelly is confident that England's athletes will not be in any danger.

She said: "I can assure you, we get regularly updates from our security team and from what we have been told, there seems to be no reason not to send our athletes out to Delhi.

"The safety of the team is paramount and if there was a security risk then of course we would pull them out, but that isn’t an issue at the moment.

"The biggest concern for Commonwealth England at the moment is actually funding, as presently, we haven’t got the funds to take the team to Delhi.

"Sport England fund the team but the money only goes so far and when you are looking at taking a team of more than 500 athletes to India, it is obviously works out quite costly.

"We were looking at putting on a holding camp as preparation for the team before the Games, but that is under threat at the moment because of a lack of funds."

To try to help raise funds, Dame Kelly is to host a Gala Indian Summer Night at the Grovesnor House Hotel, London, on June 14.

She will be joined by Jonathan Edwards and Karen Pickering, as Indian dancers, comedians and girls’ street dance group Gossip take to the floor to raise money.

Auction prizes on the night will include VIP tickets to a formula one race, hospitality at Lords, tennis lessons from Tim Henman, centre-court tickets at Wimbledon as well as signed memorabilia and luxury breaks in the UK.

It has been estimated that it will cost a total of £1.6 million ($2.3 million) to prepare and send the England team to Delhi, including pre-Games preparation camps.

The England team is set to include two double Olympic gold medallists from Beijing, swimmer Rebecca Adlington and cyclist Bradley Wiggins (pictured).

Dame Kelly said: "We were looking at putting on a holding camp as preparation for the team before the Games, but that is under threat at the moment because of a lack of funds."

Dame Kelly was one of the biggest supporters of the Commonwealth Games during her career, winning the 1500 metres at the 1994 and 2002 Games before going on to win the 800m and 1500m double at the Olympics in Athens in 2004.

She fears that the Commonwealth Games in Delhi is missing out on funding because resources are being concentrated on the London 2012 Olympics.

Dame Kelly said: "I think the funding issue is down to quite a few things - one of them being that as a country, and quite rightly so, we are focusing on the 2012 Olympic Games in London and in terms of sport, lots of funding is directed towards that.

"While that’s great, it’s important that the Commonwealths, which let’s not forget, is one of the biggest sporting events with more than 8,000 athletes competing from as many as 71 countries, is given the respect it deserves.

"We are one of the biggest teams and will be judged on our results and will be criticised if we don’t do well, so it’s really quite important that our team are supported.

"This sporting competition will be the last big multi-sport event before London 2012 and we hope to send our largest ever team to an overseas Games.

"Some of the faces you will see on the Commonwealth podium in Delhi will also be, without question, the stars of our home Olympics. 

"I cherish my Commonwealth Games career and hope people will support this event and make it possible for other young athletes to reach their dreams."

For more details on the Gala Indian Summer Night click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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