NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Barely a week ago and the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village was being described as “uninhabitable”, but praise is now trickling in.

Indian organisers were hugely embarrassed by a series of revelations about conditions in the village in the lead-up to this month’s event, with a barrage of complaints about cleanliness, plumbing, drainage and electrical problems.

But with just two days to go before the Games are officially opened on Sunday, thousands of athletes from the 71 competing nations and territories are arriving and a last-gasp clean-up seems to be paying dividends.

England badminton star Nathan Robertson, announced yesterday as the team’s flag bearer, was the latest to give praise, going so far as to call the accommodation the best he has seen in four Commonwealth Games.

“We’ve been there two days now … the village quality has been very good the food halls excellent, actually the accommodation is possibly some of the best we’ve stayed in,” he said.

“It was a little bit dirty when we arrived but the actual accommodation is some of the best compared with previous Commonwealth Games.

“They were just a little bit dusty at the start … they’ve obviously done a lot of work in the last week.”

It followed the first Australians arriving earlier in the week and commending the facility after frantic work by organisers to spruce it up.

“It’s pretty good,” Lynsey Armitage, a member of the lawn bowls team, told reporters. “I’ve been here for the last two days. The dining hall is fantastic.”

Australian team spokesman John Gartfield added: “The village is superb. Our athletes are really happy with all the facilities.”

But not everyone is happy, with British media quoting Scottish bowling hopeful Michelle Cooper as calling the village a “s…hole”.

The village has facilities like postal services, banks, ATMs, disco, bars, cafeterias, handicraft shops and a gym.