The home nations’ cycling stars’ participation at next month’s Commonwealth Games has been called into doubt after the event was thrown into crisis.

Security fears have long stood, compounded by the shooting of two tourists at the weekend, and England and Scotland yesterday expressed concerns about the athletes’ village – with Scottish officials slamming their accommodation as “unsafe and unfit for human habitation.”

That was followed by the collapse of a bridge close to the main Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, hosting the athletics events, which left five people critically injured.

And three English track and field stars, Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, world triple jump gold medallist Phillips Idowu and world 1500m silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey, subsequently withdrew.

Manx sprinter Mark Cavendish is due to defend his men’s road race title in Delhi while David Millar has entered both the individual time-trial and road race for Scotland.

Geraint Thomas and women’s Olympic road race champion Nicole Cooke are both in action for Wales, while Emma Pooley and Lizzie Armitstead are set to compete for England.

But, with the crisis further deepening today after part of the roof for the weightlifting venue collapsed, Scotland have delayed their departure for the sub-continent.

Wales have handed organisers a deadline of this evening to confirm all the venues and accommodation as fit for purpose, while English officials are constantly monitoring the situation.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to begin on October 3 but the village was due to be officially opened on Thursday.