NEW DELHI Teams from Australia and Canada are staying away from the Commonwealth Boxing Championships which begin in the Indian capital on Wednesday.

P.K. Muralidharan Raja, secretary of the Indian Boxing Federation, said Tuesday that Australia informed of its non-participation, but Canada sent no communication.

“Australia said the Commonwealth championship did not fit into the training and competition program of its boxers, while Canada said nothing at all,” Raja told The Associated Press.

The championships are an official test event for the Commonwealth Games, scheduled for Oct. 3-14 in New Delhi. The event was originally scheduled to be held last year, but was deferred because the venue was among the many Commonwealth Games facilities not ready on construction deadline.

The construction delays have provoked criticism from the Commonwealth Games Federation and caused embarrassment for local organizers, who have promised to get most venues ready by end of this month.

New Delhi has already staged the Commonwealth nations shooting championship, the first of a series of international events during 2010 to test New Delhi's preparation for the biggest multi-sport event staged in India since the 1982 Asian Games.

The men's field hockey World Cup is currently being played in a refurbished stadium that hosted the inaugural Asian Games in 1951.

An invitational international archery event is also starting Wednesday to test the facilities.

Besides the sports venues - including Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, built for the 1982 Asian Games and being upgraded to host the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony - 26 new training facilities are being built and a further 16 refurbished.