Indian officials had said that following Queen Elizabeth II's decision in May not to travel to the Games, the piqued organizers had discussed whether Indian President Pratibha Patil should instead open the Games.

A spokeswoman at Clarence House, Charles's official London residence, said both president and the prince would play a role but insisted that Charles would formally open the games as the official stand-in for his mother, the queen, who is the head of the Commonwealth.

"Both the Prince of Wales and the President of India will have a prominent role in the opening ceremony in Delhi," a Clarence House spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile India promised to have the athletes' housing for the Commonwealth Games cleaned up by Wednesday, and said workers were laboring at double time to have all facilities ready for the opening ceremony on Oct. 3.

The Games aimed to improve India's image as a rising power, but criticism of shoddy construction and dirty housing and security fears have instead raised questions about Asia's third largest economy.

Nearly all of the 1,500 athletes who had arrived in New Delhi by Monday were staying at the Games Village, the last big unfinished venue.

Many members of the more than 20 teams in Delhi have praised their facilities as roomy and clean, but other delegations have encountered problems, including Scotland's team, whose chief said, "Standards were just not good enough."

Pakistan rejected as unsatisfactory residential facilities warning organizers to make improvements or provide alternative accommodation. "Our delegation, which is visiting Delhi as part of a pre-event assessment, found the residential facilities in the village as unsatisfactory so we have given 24 hours to the organizers to bring an improvement or give us a hotel to put up our athletes," Arif Hasan, President of the Pakistan Olympic Association said.

Hasan said the accommodation was not up to international standards but ruled out any boycott of the event.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the Village, where 8,000 athletes will stay, would be ready on Wednesday.

"We inherited a very difficult situation but it's improving almost by the hour," she told reporters. "Everybody has been told to work double time and we will do it." Some team officials and athletes said conditions in the village had improved dramatically.

"A lot of work has taken place over the last few days. I am relatively satisfied," said Mike Summers, head of the Falkland Islands delegation. His 15-member team will arrive in the city and move in to the village on Tuesday, he said.

Juliet Acon, a Ugandan official, said her nation's delegation had been forced to live in hotels for a few days until their rooms were ready Saturday.

"So far, so good," she said.

Kenyan shot putter Agnes Flora Oluoch said her team's rooms were in good condition, but she and her fellow athletes had yet to receive keys, forcing them to leave their doors unlocked.

Alistair Whittingham, an archer from Scotland, said conditions were better than he had expected.

"I have stayed in much, much worse accommodation during tournaments elsewhere in the world," Whittingham said.

Another snake, a 4-foot cobra, was reportedly found at the tennis stadium.

About 20 athletes, including world champion sprinter Usain Bolt, have pulled out of the Games.

The lack of participation from some of the world's top sports stars has taken some of the shine from an event India had hoped to use to display its growing global influence, rivaling China, which put on a spectacular 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

In a boost for the Games, Isle of Man cyclist Mark Cavendish, a Tour de France stage winner and one of the world's best sprinters, said he would compete in the road race.

The chaos surrounding the Games has been a big embarrassment for the government.

Elsewhere, a blame game has erupted between local organizers and the event's federation.

Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell was forced to defend the organization's chief executive Mike Hooper, who said the Games' chaotic run-up was due to Indian officials.

"We're at the hands and the mercy of, effectively, the government of India, the Delhi government, the agencies responsible for delivery of the venues," Hooper told Television New Zealand on Sunday.

"Renewed deadlines came and went. New reasons for delays kept coming up. Absolutely exasperation from our perspective," he said.

Fennell said Hooper had "merely stated the fact that the responsibility for delivering and operating the Games lies with authorities in India" and that Hooper was a victim of "vicious and totally unwarranted" attacks in the media.

The government had seven years to prepare for the Games, but only started work in earnest two years ago; a move the official in charge of the 2004 Athens Olympics said showed they had underestimated the size of the task.

Like Delhi, Athens rushed to complete venues, which drew censure and there were doubts the Olympics would take place. The event, however, went ahead without any major glitches.

The Games were supposed to highlight the modern face of India: New highways, a metro extension, sports venues and a $2 billion international airport.

The government is also trying to paper over problems that have plagued the country for decades, ranging from child labor to the millions who live in abject poverty.

The Commonwealth Games, first held in Hamilton, Canada in 1930, are the most well known activity of the Commonwealth, said a survey in March by the Royal Commonwealth Society.

Analysts say if the Delhi Games turn out to be a fiasco, it may be hard to persuade sponsors, television companies, media and athletes that the Games deserve attention in the future.