New Delhi:
As the Australian contingent left for home after the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games, allegations have surfaced that their athletes at the Games Village indulged in hooliganism and damaged some property.
Delhi Police said it has found a broken washing machine from a residential block and it was trying to find out what went behind it.
Reports suggested that some Australian athletes went on a rampage after their cricket team lost to India in a Test Match in Bangalore. They allegedly broke a washing machine. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna sought to downplay the incident saying it was a minor issue. "It is a minor issue. It should be sorted out. With Australia, we have a very good relationship. We will solve it to the satisfaction of both the parties," he told reporters here.
Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said they have not received any complaint from the Organising Committee regarding this and no case has been registered.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief Perry Crosswhite as saying that an Aussie athlete was sent home from Delhi for disciplinary reasons.
"Crosswhite confirmed that a washing machine was thrown off the eighth floor of an Australian residential tower in the athletes' village," The Herald Sun, an Australian newspaper, reported.
However, Crosswhite said he would be surprised if it was an Australian and blamed athletes from other countries who were in the Australian building at the time of the incident.
A senior official at the Games Village, however, downplayed the incident that reportedly happened following Australia's loss to India in the cricket series, and said it was for the management of the team to take action against their own athletes responsible.
Lt Gen Ashok Kapur, the CWG Village in-charge, said it was no major incident of anybody going berserk, and suggested the athletes were only having a "fun time".
Referring to the incident of the washing machine being thrown from the eighth floor, he said it happened at around 4 AM and that the team management had already apologised for it.