St.Kitts-Nevis Caribbean Sprint Legend and FORMER World and Commonwealth Games champion Kim Collins is not expecting a 100m race to remember at Delhi 2010 - but admits he cannot blame sprint king Usain Bolt for swerving a passage to India.
Collins, 34, is one of the Caribbean and World's most decorated sprinters and despite retiring last year to spend more time at his home in St Kitts & Nevis the star dusted off the spikes to compete at the 2010 Super8 in Glasgow on Wednesday.
When Collins scooped Commonwealth gold in Manchester eight years ago, he edged out Olympic bronze medallist Uchenna Emedolu to do so and took victory in 9.98 seconds.
And he went on to scoop world gold a year later in Paris, but with the Commonwealth Games scheduled as late as October this year, a number of high-profile athletes will be absent from the Indian capital.
In athletics circles they don't come more high profile than Bolt, the three-time world and Olympic champion who holds the world records over 100m, 200m and 4x100m.
But last month, Bolt's coach Glen Mills confirmed the Commonwealth Games were never on the Jamaican's radar, ensuring the competition will be devoid of any world-class athletes and therefore devalued.
"It's going to be tough to get a good field at the Commonwealth Games this year. There will be some kids in school and then some people getting ready for the indoor season," said Collins, who finished third in Glasgow behind the USA 's Trell Kimmons and Great Britain 's Mark Lewis-Francis despite being retired from active athletics since 2009.
"It's a shame and it's going to be tough to get a field. Obviously people will go there but the calibre won't be there.
"It would be good if Usain would go and it would be great for the Commonwealth Games but then you have to ask, who is he going to compete against? That's the important question.
"Without him, at least we don't know who will win and the competition will be a lot tighter so in that sense it makes sense that he doesn't go."
Also absent from Delhi 2010 will be Great Britain's Dwain Chambers, who will be favourite for the European Championships title later this month, having ducked under ten seconds for the first time in nine years in June.
At 31 Chambers remains Great Britain's number one sprinter - a point underlined by his victory at the UK Championships earlier this month - despite being ostracised from a host of high-profile meets as a result of his two-year drugs ban, served between 2003 and 2005.
And he will not get the chance to test himself against former world record holder Asafa Powell or Tyson Gay, the second fastest man in the world, this weekend at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Gateshead .
But Chambers will be in action in Barcelona on Friday where organisers will be among the first of the Euromeetings group to go against the unwritten rule not to invite convicted drugs cheats.
And Collins believes that if Chambers continues to prove himself the best in Europe , it will not be long before the Diamond League meeting organisers come knocking.
"It's a shame that Dwain is the best of the Brits at the moment but he can't compete in the big meets like Gateshead at the weekend," added Collins.
"But often the rules can be changed so maybe that won't be the case sometime soon in the future.
"I see some of the other British guys coming along well and I wish them the best for London 2012. I really want them to be able to do well in front of the home crowd so I'm looking out for them.
"There are some talents coming through at the moment so hopefully, with a bit of luck they can get it together in time for 2012."
St.Kitts Sports News is a private organisation that seeks to present fair and balanced sports news stories from St.Kitts-Nevis.
