Indian officials scrambled Thursday to salvage the rapidly approaching Commonwealth Games as a growing number of competitors delayed their arrival to allow organizers time to finish their frantic preparations.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held an emergency meeting Thursday night with his sports minister and other top officials to assess the state of preparations for the event, which is scheduled to start in little more than a week.

Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, whose organizing team has been mired in graft allegations, was not asked to attend the meeting.

The games were meant to showcase India’s emergence as a regional powerhouse. But long delays in getting facilities ready and a list of scandals have turned them into an embarrassment.

A poll in the Hindustan Times newspaper Thursday showed 68 percent of surveyed New Delhi residents were ashamed of the games, which bring together athletes from the 71 countries and territories of the former British empire and are held every four years.

Organizers have struggled with an outbreak of dengue fever, the collapse of a footbridge leading to the main stadium, and security fears after the Sunday shooting of two tourists outside one of the city’s top attractions. A Muslim militant group took responsibility for the shooting.

Since concerns over the athletes’ village—including excrement in rooms and problems with plumbing, wiring and furnishings—were raised earlier this week, India has committed major resources to cleaning it up, with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit taking charge of the operation, said Mike Hooper, the games’ chief executive.

The village, which is meant to house more than 7,000 athletes and officials, opened Thursday with 138 Indian athletes and sports officials moving in, organizers said.

Kalmadi said most of the problems with the village had been resolved and the games would turn out to be a success.

But many national delegations remained concerned.

The New Zealand team announced Thursday it was joining Scotland and Canada in delaying its arrival in New Delhi because of the poor condition of the accommodations. England and Australia have also expressed concern about the village.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For more, see Jamie Dean’s cover story from the current issue of WORLD.